Nuclear Winter
by wafflesxcokecola
Summary: Lucas is a young police officer working in New York city and living a simple life and even exploring a love interest when suddenly the bombs drop. Trusting Vault Tec, Lucas and another police officer run to the vaults to survive the nuclear blast. When the vault door opens again, Lucas is forced to survive in a world of radioactive ash and rubble that is left of New York city.
1. Chapter 1 (10-09 14:47:04)

Nuclear winter

Chapter 1

The alarm beeped loudly, piercing through the layer of sleep that lucas was happily surrounded by in his nice comfy bed. Lucas slowly reached an arm out as he slapped the alarm silent, groaning as another day begins. He really hated mornings. Lucas groaned as he rolled out of the bed, literally, and landed on the floor. The cheap carpet felt kind of nice against his bare chest. He could have gotten out of bed like a normal person if he wanted to but today was monday and he really didn't care.

Pulling himself onto his feet, lucas stumble out of the single bed room and into the living room with kitchen attached. The living room had that brand new look to it even though it was nowhere near "new" anymore. The walls were bare with it's original grey paint. The room was plain with a couch, television, and a small table between the two. Everything was mostly clean, not that lucas did a lot of cleaning, it's just he didn't do a lot in the room to make it messy. He walked through the main part of the room and into the left side of the room that was a small set up kitchen. Lucas bent over a little as he grabbed the shiny metal handle of the plain white fridge and opening it to see what his breakfast will be.

A cold rocket shaped glass bottle with brown soda sat on the top self. "Nuka-cola?" Lucas asked himself. No, though he did hear about the new cherry flavored one coming out soon, that'll be interesting.

Underneath the top self was a thin white and blue box with bright red label. "Sugar bombs?" Lucas was tempted till the thought popped in his head. The last time he had those, his neighbors in the next room filed a noise complaint. It's not his fault he's highly sensitive to sugar.

 _Guess it's just cereal for today_ Lucas thought to himself as he closed the fridge door. He made a mental note to buy some food after his shift today. Lucas looked up at the digital clock on the oven. It'll be an hour before he would have to leave for work. Lucas walked over to the couch with a bowl of cereal and clicked on the television.

The Weather channel came on the screen first, the man sitting behind his desk in his usual nice black button up shirt with a red tie and white shirt underneath starts talking. "Good morning New York! Looks like today will be a brilliant bright sunny day with a few clouds about, ten percent chance of rain." The man happily says as if it was the best news he have ever received in his life, even though he said the same thing yesterday, and will say it again tomorrow.

Click.

"How could you sleep with him Jessica?! He was my man!" An angry blonde woman with way too much makeup slapped the redhead woman in front of her, to which she verbally strikes back "Cause he never loved you, you whore!" followed with a hard slap across the blonde's cheek. _Like I need drama at home, I get enough of that at work_ Lucas thought to himself.

Click.

"And the price of the mentats is……" The woman with big puffy blonde hair and a silk yellow dress and heels on the screen now stands next to a eager slightly older man in a grey suit with a name tag that read "Ted" on a stage in front of a audience. The camera pans over to the rack where a box of mentats stood, a sign uncovers underneath it, revealing the price of the box to which a horn goes off in the background. The audience awws and the man covers his face with his hands, obviously not getting the price right and losing that sweet new car. "Ha, the price is wrong, a show that never goes out of style." Lucas said out loud.

Half an hour later lucas looked over at the stove's clock. "Welp, fun time over." He rose up from the couch and clicked the television off. He walked around the room, setting the now empty bowl in the sink and entering the small bathroom next to his bedroom. A quick hot shower later, lucas stopped by the mirror. Thick blonde scruffy hair that he didn't style, he liked the slight rough look it gave him. A young face stared back at lucas at the mirror with green eyes. The sides of his face and chin had a shadow of thin growing hair that showed he shaved yesterday but not long enough to make him have to shave again. Lower in the mirror was his decently toned torso, he had a bit of weight on him but he was not counted as overweight. His arms had signs of muscles but they weren't something he would brag about. Lucas's body was almost pale white. "I really need to get some sun this week." He told himself.

Lucas stepped out of the bathroom in just his green plain boxers. He stepped over to the white wooden closet next to his bed. He pulled open the doors, revealing a bar with some coat hangers. Several shirts of different colors and designs hung there along with his police uniform. He reached up to the hanger and pulled it off and laid the uniform against his blue bed. Lucas slid into black khaki pants. He always kept police tool belt strapped in the pants after he washed it. Lucas looked down at the police belt, which he laughed at since it reminded him of the heroes from the unstoppables comic he used to read as a kid. He unbuttoned the shirt and slid it on and buttoned it up his body. A yellow and black patch stitched to his left shoulder with the words "Police Department. City of New York" with their insignia in the middle. Lucas smiled at the patch, he was content with the feeling of helping others. It was better than doing a desk job at least.

Lucas walked out of the main door to his apartment room and locked it behind himself. As he walked down the hall, lucas came across the usual temptation of kicking on his neighbor's door just to startle them awake and making a mad dash down to the stairs as they sprint to the door, hammer in hand for self protection, fear being the breakfast they would have that morning. He didn't hate them, they just didn't like him. Something about the new kid on the block just unsettled the elderly couple as they always seemed to hold some unspoken thing against him, seeking every opportunity to file a complaint against him.

Lucas laughed to himself as he thought about it that but decide not to. He walked to the end of the hall and down the stairs to the main lobby of the first floor. The staff was laying around from lack of business throughout the apartment building. Lucas strolled out of the glass doors. The usual loud noises of Manhattan at seven am greeted lucas. Several cars zoomed up and down the street in front of him as he looked to the flat parking area across the street, dozens of cars belonging to the inhabitants of the apartment sat in their own spots. Lucas waited for the street to be cleared before he jogged across. He found at the closest end of the lane of cars his light green car and hop in the driver seat, his key activating the nuclear engine in the hood as the car jump to life as if it was Frankenstein. This wasn't the cop car he'll use for his job, those stayed at the station. This is the car that had stuck with lucas for his entire adult life. All 5 years of it. Given to him by his mother and father as he stood in the driveway at his old home in Texas. Lucas remembered saying his goodbyes and love you's right before he departed for a new life in the big apple. Wiping away the lone wondering tear on his cheek as lucas focus on driving to the station.


	2. Chapter 2

Nuclear winter

Chapter 2

Lucas pulled his car into the parking lot next to the station, turning it off and opening the door to get out. The city roared with noise from other cars and people all around. Walking along side the police building to the entrance, Lucas eyed his usual police motor bike. Some people of the day would call it old, since it didn't run on the usual nuclear energy engine that most of the vechicles ran on. It had a gas power engine, while it may not run as fast as it's nuclear siblings, it was still dependable and way easier to fix if broken than an nuclear engine, which could be a devasting bomb if mishandled. It had a nice black and white paint job and one of those little windshield in front of the handle bars.

Lucas turned the corner and walked through the opening automatic glass doors into the station. Behind the main counter a voice spoke up. Lucas noticed the tanned man with long flowing hair on his shoulders looking up at him. If you looked at the man from behind, you could have easily mistaken him for a woman. " Here's the case for you and your new partner " Brian said as his arm reached over the counter to lucas, a vanilla folder in his hand. Lucas took the folder from him, the tab at the top read " mission and partner assignment "

" New partner? "

" Yeah, new recruit, captain decided you knew enough around here that you should babysit this one " Brian joked " She's in your office awaiting orders. Also I set a new cup on your desk 'Proud Father', thought it'll be right with your new kid " Lucas knew he was talking about the recruit assigned to him. Brian was never easy on recruits, mainly for fun outta the boredom of a desk job.

Walking to his office, Lucas opened the door to a woman sitting in his chair behind his desk. The woman, short thick brown hair with curly ends, her face shows she had gotten some sun in her life, skin being slightly more tan than Lucas but not the dramatic almost orange that Brian aims for each week, in the police uniform that she rocked pretty nicely, his eyes tried to avoid the nice rack she had, but failed as she caught him staring. " They get bigger if you blink ten times fast " she said without looking up at him, her eyes on the computer screen on his desk. He almost fell for her trick and then looked up at her face which had a very strong bored expression. " So, is it a boy or girl? " the woman asked him. Lucas, confused, asked back " What? "

" Your kid, boy or girl? " her hand rising, showing the cup that Brian had promised him. " Just a prank by the bored man behind the desk, I'm single without kids " Lucas told her. " You're single? I thought you were Lucas, my new partner " the woman joked back. Newbies, Lucas thought to himself. " Well we got a new mission for us so we can see how well we can work together. Miss…….?"

" Jacklyn "

" Well then jacklyn, let's see what we shall be doing today "

Lucas laid out the vanilla folder between him and her as they read the mission. Supposedly there is a domestic abuse case that they needed to go and help the woman safely leave the house since the man is there and she is afraid of leaving. These cases always disturbed Lucas however he was more worried about the seriousiness of this being the first mission for a rookie. Looking up at Jacklyn, Lucas noticed she turned very quiet, her face dark and mencingly to the point it even scared him. Reading the location of the case and quickly closing the folder. " Are you sure you want to do this? i can ask for a replacement assig-" "I'll be fine, we can't deny this woman our help. let's go." Jacklynn said, walking past lucas and out the door.

Opening a drawer in the desk, Lucas strapped his holster with his 9 mm pistol in it to his belt. He was pretty good with it, pistol training was his favorite part of police academy even though that is the only fire arm he knew how to handle. He wasn't trained with the rifles or shotguns handled out to captains or SWAT. Jacklyn, being a recruit, wasn't given one yet though he did notice a police baton on her hip. Lucas felt a little better knowing she won't be completely defenseless. " Let's go " Together they walked out of the station.

Jacklyn eye balled the police cruisers. " Which one is your's? " she asked him, hoping to get to ride in the rich leather seats of the full-out police car known to go to speeds of 250 mph in a case of a car chase, also the great steroes in the back that really made the car shake if the bass was turned all the way up. " That beauty down there " he pointed to the motor bike at the end of the lot. Jacklyn's eyes followed his finger with great hope and excitement, just to find disappointment at the end of the eye journey.

" Really?..."

" Really really " Lucas mocked jacklyn back as he walked over to the police motorcycle. Lucas sat on the seat of the bike, a leg on each side as he cranks the engine up, a sound that would be a crumb compared to the cake that the sound that a police cruiser would make cranking up. Jacklyn sat behind lucas, her arms wrapped around his stomach as they set off out of the police parking lot.


	3. Chapter 3

Nuclear winter

Chapter 3

The city was having one of it's rare hours where the traffic wasn't so bad, lucas and jacklyn arriving at the old run down appartment building eariler than expected. Turning off the police motor bike and hopping off, lucas and his new partner walked up to the door. He had noticed jacklyn being talkive on the way here, talking about her apartment room, which sounded messier than his, her cat, a big bombay that did nothing but lay around, and where she came from, a small town in Carolina. However now that they reached the door, Jacklyn remained silent. Lucas assumed it was probably because it was her first mission.

" When we get inside, I'll deal with the guy and you help the woman get safely out of the building. " Lucas told her silently as they walk up the steps to the room. " Ok but one question, take her where? " Jacklyn asked " To the station of course " Lucas said to her as if it was basic knowledge. " On the motorbike…." Jacklyn told him slowly, letting it sink in. Lucas stopped on the steps. And smacked himself. He had gotten so caught up with wanting to show off his police motorbike to Jacklyn he forgot that while two people were leaving the station, he'll need to take himself and two other people back and the motor bike was a two seater. " Well…...you get on the bike with the woman, drive to the station, and come back for me. " Lucas told her. Jacklyn nodded in agreement and they continued on with their mission.

Reaching the door of the room, they could hear scruffing inside. And then a thud as if someone fell to the floor hard. Lucas twisted the knob and threw the door open quickily. The two cops stormed inside and found a man on the floor, mumbling something. Lucas walked cautiously towards the man and then knelt down next to him as jacklyn walked along the edge of the room, checking every area. " Sir, wake up, are you ok?" Lucas followed proper protocol. After a moment of nothing, lucas rolled the man over, who seemed unconscious. The man was a middle age chinese man, between his thirties and fourties lucas guessed. The man had a white torn and stained t-shirt on with a mysterious green stain on his left side. Boxers and sandals were the only things left on the man. A bottle of whiskey in his right hand. His head was clean shaved, almost like a military cut. Lucas couldn't find any injuries on the man's body so he guessed the man fell from the alcohol. Lucas did however find scratches up and down the man's arms, signs that he has been in a fight, more than likely from the woman victim here.

A door open behind them as a young woman came out of the room. She had bright red hair, almost like a red light, and was short and slim. Her right eye bearing a bruise. " We are here to help " Lucas softly said to the woman, though she stayed at the door unconvinced. Suddenly as if on que, the man came to life, laughing madly as if someone had told him a really good joke in his sleep. Lucas jumped back as the man sat up instantly. Lucas felt his ass hit the floor hard as he fell unbalanced. The man's bloodshot eyes connected with lucas's, his arm throwing the whiskey bottle aimed at lucas's face. Lucas had just enough time to knock it aside with his arm before it made contact with his face. The man rushed on all fours across the carpet, grabbing hold of lucas's leg. The woman screamed in fear, drawing the attention of all three of the people in the living room. " You call them?! You die next! " The man started to screamed at her, those were the only words lucas could understand as the rest of the screaming was in very angry chinese. However the screaming stopped when he felt a pair of hands grab him by the shoulders and quickly dragged him away from lucas. Jacklyn slammed the man's back into the wooden table's edge, hurting him real badly, even if he was drunk off his ass. " You think you're real tough shit huh douchebag?! " Jacklyn screamed in the man's face, punching him hard in the jaw, causing a random tooth to fly out of his mouth. The man laughed harder as he attempted to grab Jacklyn by the back of her neck. She allowed the momentum of his arm to carry and to miss her neck as she grabbed him by his shoulder, lifting him up and slamming his chest against the table, followed by a punch to the back of his head. " Not so big when they fight back huh you piece of shit! " Drawing her baton and bringing it down hard against the man's back, then a kick between his legs, and he was down for the count. But jacklyn didn't let up. Hitting her baton against the man's body till Lucas snapped out of the daze of watching Jacklyn go berserk on the man and getting to his feet and rushing over and wrapping his hands around her stomach from behind and dragging her away from her new human pinanta.

" Breath in and breath out jacklyn, think about why we are here, it's not to beat on this guy, but to help save the woman, use this energy on someone who needs it " Lucas softly said into jacklyn's ear. Turning her towards the shaking woman in the doorway. " Help her, get her out and away from here. Show her you care " Lucas continued. Jackyln's breathing slowed back to normal, her body relaxing into his as her hand dropped the bloody baton. Lucas had not notice the blood drooling out of the man's mouth from where her baton had hit him square in the mouth, and then in the nose, breaking it too as blood slightly covered the black baton. Jacklyn lifted lucas's hands from her stomach, stepping towards the woman as she said to her " Let's go "

The woman nodded and followed Jacklyn out the door and down the stairs, obviously having won her trust. Lucas picked up jacklyn's bloody baton, walking to the sink to clean it off. Turning the nob for the water though the water was completely yellow, almost like urine. Turning the nob off as Lucas puzzled about the water. " Not worth it, won't be here long enough " Lucas said to himself about the water. Lucas picked up a towel to wipe the baton clean instead. Walking into the living room, Lucas looked over the man. Bruises and blood covered him now. Leaning over the man's body he could hear..snoring. Still alive. Well good for him. Lucas walked out of the living room, no longer needing to be in there and out the door.

lucas started down the stairs, a few steps in he could hear his motorbike start up and drive off. Some more stairs and he out the door of the apartment building. The station too far away for him to walk so instead lucas sat down on the curb of the side walk, waiting for jacklyn to return but he could help but think about what came over jacklyn back there. He was surprised he was able to calm her out of her brutal state. His speech ability had never been something to be proud of, rarely able to successfully neogatiate with people on the job.

Step.

Lucas looked up at the light blue sky, the one rouge white cloud, the yellow orange sun bright up in the sky, shining brightly down on the busy roaring city down below.

Step.

The city full of the noise of life. An rainbow of cars zooming back and forth along the intact concrete roads. Tall towers of brick and concrete and metal reach towards the sky, each expressing art from different archetics minds.

Step.

A shadow stood over Lucas. Whipping around startled as the shadow belong to the chinese man from the room. In the sun light, Lucas could see how built the man really was. Lucas confirmed he had to be from some kind of military back ground. The man sat next to lucas, a new whiskey bottle in his hand.

" That woman could punch. " The man said. Somehow it seemed the bloody broken nose and busted mouth didn't matter to him at all. " Yeah, she can " Lucas said back. " Why did you abuse the woman? " Lucas asked curiously. " It doesn't matter anymore, nothing will matter soon " the man answered. " What do you mean? " Lucas asked even more curious than before. The man stood and turned to lucas.

" what's your name? "

" Lucas "

" Well, Lucas. It was...nice to meet someone who made me question everything I did. Good luck. "

The man turned away. Walking down the alley between buildings. Lucas turned back to the street and sighed. He wasn't sure if he should chase down the man and arrest him or if jacklyn's beating was enough of a punishment. Today is not making sense. The sound of a special motor bike came to his ears. Jacklyn drove right up next to lucas. Somehow she looked more badass on it than he did. " Come along partner " Jacklyn said to Lucas. A small smile came to his lips as he got on the bike behind jacklyn, his arms wrapped around her stomach again, though this time she was much more calm. Revving the engine as the motor bike speed down the highway back to the station.


	4. Chapter 4

Nuclear winter

Chapter 4

The motorbike slowwed down to a stop in the parking lot next to the police station.

Jacklyn turned the key off, cutting the engine and setting down the kick stand, she and lucas hopped off of the bike and started making their way back to the station. Right before turning the corner into the station, lucas grabs jacklyn by the arm and turns her around to face him. " Before we go in, before we go on any more missions, you need to tell me what happened back there with you. " Lucas demanded from Jacklyn boldly. She sighed, attempting to avoid eye contact.

" Were….were you abus-"

" No, it was never like that for me. " Jacklyn said quickly, dismissing that thought from lucas's mind.

" It was my mother…"

" What do you mean? "

" She went through the same thing as that woman. It happened once, when I was little. I was not going to allow a second time. "Jacklyn looked Lucas in his eyes, her's was red and tearing up quickly. Lucas hesitated, then asked " W-what did you do? "

" I pushed him down the stairs one day, he fell. On the last step he landed on his head. His neck snapped. I watched as a puddle of blood formed from his mouth and my mother screaming when she found him. Her eyes looked scared, which i could understand since a dead body never a pleasant sight to see the first time, but i never saw anger in her eyes when she looked at me, only gratitude and she never accused me of killing him. No one did. I didn't know if it was fair. A broken neck for the man inturn for the broken ribs he gave my mother. "

Lucas look at her deeply. She wasn't a killer, nor a monster, not even dangerous. She knew what was happening was wrong and did what felt right. Even though lucas wouldn't have chosen the path of murder, he understood her reasoning. " I won't blame you for your choices in the past " Lucas softly told her. " Do...Do you not want to be my partner? I'll understand now that you know this…" Jacklyn asked Lucas without looking at him, instead down in shame.

" Can I trust you to have my back? " Lucas asked her. Jacklyn looked lucas boldly in his eyes " Yes you can " she told him confidently. She may not be able to control her emotions all the time, but she knew she can trust in her ability to protect herself and others around her.

" Then I'll have yours " Lucas wrapped his arms around her back, hugging her tightly. He could feel a tear running down his neck.

" Alright " Her voice softly said in his ear. Pulling away as Jacklyn quickly turned and wiped her eyes, then facing back to Lucas " So...if the guy comes back with the bruises and spitting blood, shall we say he fell down the stairs while we were getting the woman to safety? " Lucas jokingly told her, which rewarded him with a punch to his arm " That's not funny " Jacklyn said with a small smile on her face. Jacklyn walked into the station as Lucas silently said ouch in pain, rubbing his arm. He never suspected a powerful punch to come from a smaller woman but he was glad to learn this now than a time that she might have been pissed at him.

Lucas walked in behind jacklyn and to the desk that sat brian. " So, how did the test run go? " Brian winked to lucas. " It went well enough, the mission complete. " Lucas felt like he should keep most of the details to himself out of respect for jacklyn as he handed the folder to brian. Jacklyn looked up at the clock on the wall.

 _Only 2 pm?! This day felt like it should be nighttime by now._ Lucas noticed Jacklyn looking up at the clock. " Wanna kill some time till our shift ends? " Lucas called out to her. " What is it you're planning? " she asked back. " How about you show me how to use a baton and I'll show you how to use a 9 mm " Lucas offered to jacklyn. She considered it for a moment and nodded.

Walking past some doors and into the training room. The room was large and wide, about a third of the building. Light blue brick walls and padded flooring and mats organized in a pattern, to offer melee and close quarter fighting to officers. The back of the room being the firing range with it's personal firing spaces and lanes fifty feet long for both long arms and short arms practice. To the left side of the room was pratice dummies, some half bodies while others were full bodies. The right side of the room was weapons closets, though the closets were by ranks. Privates and recruits got the small weapons only, batons, combat knives, basic pistols while high ranking officers such as captains and sargents got large weapons and guns such as sledgehammers, shotguns and assault rifles. Lucas opened up the recruit closet and reached in, pulling out a 9 mm pistol with some clips and two strong foam training batons.

" So which first? " Jacklyn asked. " How about pistols " Lucas decided. Both walking over to the firing range. " Ok, show me what you know and we can work from there. " Jacklyn nodded, loaded the pistol, turned to the target and started pulling the trigger in a quick fire session as if she was facing a horde of zombies, the pistol wavering with each shot as her arms bounced up and down from the recoil of every shot. After a few clicks of the empty pistol, Jacklyn pulled the target back. "Well….at least you hit the target…." Lucas tried to stay positive. She missed all but one shot. And that was along the edge of the paper. Jacklyn smiled at him though " Well, let's hope that some birds were part of the crime in progress, I seemed to have hit some of those " They laughed a small bit.

" Ok now let's try this " Lucas said, coming up behind her after she fed another clip to the pistol. His chest softly pressed against her back, his arms against her arms as he helped her steady her aim. "Whoa now, at least buy me dinner first~ " jacklyn toyed with lucas. He blushed and then tried to focus. " Arms locked, lean forward, wrists straight, eyes on target through iron sight " Lucas said to her the same words that was said to him in training. " Breathe in, and pull " Her finger squeezed the trigger, the gun blasted and recoiled, though her arms stayed mostly steady. The bullet flying through the yellow circle about 4 circles from the bulls eye. _Not bad, of course she will get better with practice,_ Lucas thought to himself. Jacklyn repeated the process till the pistol was empty, she landed all but 2 shots on the target. Certainly better than the first clip. Jacklyn relaxed back into lucas's arms, the adrenaline of firing the pistol hitting her now. " Let's try batons " She told him.

Stepping over to the mats as jacklyn stood on one end and lucas stood on the other. Both with strong foam training batons in hand. " Do you know how to use one of these? " Jacklyn asked Lucas " How hard could it be? You just swing the end at the person you wanna hit! " He answered. A dark smile formed on jacklyn's lips. " Then show me " Lucas cautiously stepped towards jacklyn, then swung his arm downward, his baton aimed for her head. Jacklyn circled her baton over her head, parrying his and sending his arm to the side as she followed the parry with a quick thrust with the end of the baton to the gut, forcing lucas to double over. Stepping to his side, jacklyn wrapped her arm around lucas's neck and swung him around, forcing him off balance as he fell to the ground. lucas quickly flipped to his back as jacklyn side swung her baton from the left, stopping right at his ear. " What did we learn? " She sarcastically said to Lucas. " That you still have some pent up agression? Is it that time of the month? " Lucas joked back. Jacklyn laughed too, after sending the baton into his chest. " Again " She told him. lucas, gasping then catching his breath, dragged himself to his feet as they assumed the battle positions on each end of the long mat.

After an hour of wrestling with batons both combatants were covered in sweat and panting hard, the only difference was lucas was also covered in bruises while jacklyn will be walking away with a strained arm at most. " Shall we call it the day? " Jacklyn offered mercy, which lucas happily jumped onto " Yes! Lets. " Setting the weapons back in the closet and locking it up. jacklyn and lucas walked through the station and out the door, though Lucas did a lil more of stumbling. " Tomorrow? " Jacklyn asked. " Yeah, I'm sure we got something tomorrow " Lucas answered. Jacklyn smiled and walked down the street to her apartment which was three blocks away. Lucas walked to his car and started the engine. Driving home while lip singing to the songs on the radio. If he were to actually sing, all of New York would go deaf. Stopping at the parking lot of his apartment and turning off the car and walking inside. lucas almost killed himself over the stairs, all of his energy went into trying not to be killed by a crazy, quite hot, terminator-like lady with a baton. Reaching his door and going inside, locking the door behind himself and stumbling to the couch, which he collapses on. A small paper sound underneath him as Lucas looks down onto the floor. A small tear of paper had fallen out of his shirt he assumed. Reaching down and picking it up, it read " Jacklyn " with a phone number on it. Calling the number with his phone, the line connected, on the other end was jacklyn's voice " Glad to hear you made it home alive. "


	5. Chapter 5

Nuclear winter

Chapter 5

The days were getting better and better within each one. Lucas and jacklyn becoming more comfortable with each other everyday, which was really starting to show when out on duty, both in sync with most of the other's thoughts almost like a chemical reaction. One of the days during the week, a small Poseidon gas station was being held up, lucas and jacklyn in the area at the time were the first to respond. Parking the police motorbike to the side of the building and sneaking around and crouching next to the door, lucas whispers to jacklyn

" You ready? "

" Sure " was all she said back, before kicking open the door, shouting "Hands in the air!" while drawing her pistol. Right before the three men in ski masks turned to face where she was standing, lucas snuck behind her and disappeared behind one of the snack aisles. From there lucas was able to observe the store through the large mirror in the ceiling corner of the store. Three armed attempting robbers: One man armed with a knife, a man armed with a pistol and the last one armed with a crowbar. A scared cashier behind the counter and a young woman in the next aisle who too had gone unnoticed. The two men were at the front of the store being occupied by jacklyn as the man with the crowbar stood at the back door, probably making sure no one snuck up on them. Lucas snuck around the end of his asile and silently notioned to the young woman to follow him. The woman followed lucas on all fours till they got to the last aisle that had the back door. The 'guard' luckily was facing away from lucas's direction. Crouch walking his way up behind him, lucas silently drew his police baton and slammed it on the back of the man's head, knocking him out. lucas quickly caught the crowbar but the thud of the man's body hitting the floor was still enough to get the rest of his crew's attention.

The man with the pistol started screaming out to his friend, and was about to aim his pistol at jacklyn instead of the cashier when jacklyn panicked. Out of the sudden actions, jacklyn's finger slipped on the trigger, the gun firing scared both jacklyn and the men as the bullet shot at the man with the pistol, knocking it cleanly out of his hand. Lucas heard the shot and assumed the worst, shoving the woman out into the back doorway and sneaking his way quickly to the front of the store. The man went to chase the pistol but found lucas aiming his pistol at him instead. " Don't. Move." Lucas calmly demanded. The unarmed man slowly raised up his hands and softly fell to his knees. The man with the knife however charged at jacklyn, to which she side stepped to dodge the attack and made sure to keep her finger away from the trigger as she brought the top part of the barrel of the gun down on the man's face, pistol whipping him and causing him to stagger which was when she kicked him in the back of the knee, bringing him down to his knees as she pistol whipped him again in the back of the head, knocking him out. Lucas handcuffed the only conscious member of the miniature heist as jacklyn helped calm down the cashier and brought him outside of the store to make sure he was safe. Within minutes of the 'detain and rescue', the New York police force showed up to the scene, dragging the criminals into the back of police cars and other officers filing police forms. The news press followed the police as jacklyn and lucas snuck away, both really didn't feel like having flashing cameras and annoying microphones shoved in their faces for just doing their jobs.

Lucas walking with Jacklyn back to the motorbike as he excitedly asked her

" How did you take a shot like that?! "

" What shot? "

" The one you pulled off and knocked the man's pistol out of his hand! That was amazing aim! I know I been teaching you alot but there's not way I could pull that off! " Jacklyn smiled at him

" Maybe you're a better teacher than you think " She sweetly said to him. Jacklyn was honestly afraid of using her pistol again, believing she was built more for simple melee and not careful aiming. Lucas may have been able to pick up baton fighting techniques quickly over the last few weeks of training but she hadn't had the best of luck in pistol shooting practice besides today. The police motorbike cranked up as jacklyn hopped on the bike behind lucas, wrapping her arms around his stomach as they drove back to the station.

That was Wednesday, today is Friday. _Thank goodness nothing big has happened so far today_ ,Lucas thought to himself. He was gonna need the day to be uneventful to fill in for the night.

" I told you, I want to take a break from target practice today " Jacklyn whined as he almost dragged her to the training area. " I know, I know, but they set up new target papers that is supposed to help us with our aim and I want you to try them out. " Lucas explained to her. Jacklyn, seriously questioning on telling him that she didn't mean to shoot the pistol out of that man's hands and that it went off by accident and hit the gun out of pure luck, allowed lucas to bring her to her firing lane.

Shoving a 9 mm pistol in her hand, lucas set her up at the firing range.

" Now stay here and I'll set up the new target " Lucas told her, running to the side of the range and switched out the regular paper target for the new one he created. Running back to jacklyn, Lucas pressed the button to bring out the target. Jacklyn lifted the pistol to her view, locking her arms. Breathing slowly as she prepared for whatever special target lucas had set up for her. The paper swung out into the view of the iron sight, jacklyn took a second to examine what she was aiming for but there was no target. No circles. No boxes or anything. Just letters. Lowering the pistol as she read what the target read: " _Go on a date with me? Shoot once for yes, twice for no_ " Jacklyn turned her head to lucas, who was holding a single red rose, smiling brightly at her. Jacklyn looked Lucas in the eyes, and fired her pistol. The shot missed the target but the point still came across.

Lucas smile got even brighter.

Then she fired again.

Lucas's smile vanished with confusion.

Jacklyn smiled at Lucas. " I'm just kidding " Jacklyn giggled at lucas, setting the pistol on the small counter then hugged him, placing her lips on his cheek and then softly saying in his ear " Of course I'll love to go on a date with you " Taking the rose into her hand, jacklyn started walking away. " My place, 9 pm, don't be late or the next bullet goes in your eye. " She said to him before walking through the doors. She was gonna keep up the perfect aim lie if it still messed with him a bit.

Lucas speed walked to his car and cranked it up, driving home almost too fast though with his current mood, he could have walked the entire city to home. Jogging up to his room taking the stairs instead of the elevator, ignoring all of the noise down stairs in the lobby, lucas quickly opening his door and shutting it behind himself. Lucas dived into his closet. He unfortunately realized he didn't have much in the way of fancy clothes but he luckily did have the nice black tux and black slacks he wore to his graduation from the police academy. Trying it on to see if it fits, it was a tight squeeze but he managed. He had put on some weight since then but he was still mostly comfortable in it. Lucas took it off and shoved it in the small washing machine in the side room. Lucas looked up at the clock which read 6 pm. 3 more hours to go. Lucas walked into the bathroom and got the shower running and hopped in. About an hour later, lucas had cleaned and fixed himself up then realizing he was supposed to make a plan for tonight. Calling up a fancy restaurant and making reservations. By the time everything was prepared and ready, Lucas looked up at the clock and saw it was time to go.

Stepping out of the room and locking it behind himself, lucas was dressed up in nice black slacks and clean black tux, his hair actually combed to look nice. lucas quickly walking out of the building and to his car, driving it out of the lot and towards jacklyn's appartment. He noticed how different New York was at night. Different colored lights and signs bringing life to the large city, turning night into almost day with the sky lit up with colors from the buildings. Making it to the appartment, which was a lil more fancy than the one he lived in, and parking out in the parking lot. "Which room?" Lucas texted Jacklyn as he made his way to the entrance of the apartment. " 3rd floor, room 67 " she texted back. Walking through the lobby he was greeted by a nice lady in red behind the counter " How may I help you today sir? " she asked with a smile. It almost startled him, he was used to the people in his lobby not caring about the people walking through until they came up to the desk. " No thanks, I'm good " Lucas said back. The woman nod and wished him a wonderful evening. The elevator had flush red carpet, if no one was looking, he would taken off his shoes to feel the carpet with his feet. The elevator dinged to the 3rd floor and Lucas exited and walked through the hall till he reached the room with the brass numbers " 67 " on the door.

Lucas knocked on the door gently.

" Be right there " Jacklyn's voice reached through the door. Lucas stood slightly back from the door and after a couple of seconds, it opened. Lucas's jaw dropped a bit as jacklyn stood in front of him. Her hair was straight then curly at the end, even though this is how her hair normally looked like, it looked more soft and shiny. In the side of her hair was pinned the red rose from earlier which the red of the rose was a nice compliment with her brown hair. A solid black dress that came to her knees and hugged her curves without being too tight, with straps that went over her shoulders to hold the dress up. Her face barely had any make up on it, she had told him before that she was never one for that kind of stuff, though she looked stunning without it.

" Shall we go? " Jacklyn said when she figured he had checked her out enough now, walking past him as her hand went down his cheek slowly. After the second of daze, Lucas hurried after her down the hall.


	6. Chapter 6

Nuclear winter

Chapter 6

Lucas helped Jacklyn into the car and then getting into the driver seat himself. Cranking it up and pulling out of the parking lot, one hand on the wheel while Jacklyn took his other hand into hers. " So, where to? " Jacklyn asked Lucas as he turned left down another street." You'll see " he answered with a smile. The car drove down the lit up street till coming to park in front of a tall elegant golden glowing tower which was a newly built skyline restaurant which somehow towered the city at the right height. Lucas and Jacklyn couldn't see the top without having to break their necks. " So, how many years of paychecks did you save up for this date? " Joyce sounded both impressed and surprised. " Well I didn't go out buying all the fancy clothing and foods these past couple of years and had saved up quite a bit " Lucas answered back with a detectable amount of pride. What Jacklyn didn't know was his five minutes of crying as the single table in this high end tower in this city had in one blow, wiped out all of his savings from the last 2 years, but for Jacklyn, he felt like it was worth it.

Lucas took Jacklyn's soft hand into his own as they walk up the red carpet to the golden glass doors of the entrance. A small man stood with a list in his hands at the door. " Reservations? " he asked in a rather squeaky tone. If it wasn't for the two terminator-like men standing behind him, Lucas would have so walked past him into the building. " A dinner for two at ten pm? " Lucas's answer was more of a question as his eyes looked up to the tall men who looked like they bench-pressed trucks for a living. The small man flipped the page and searched it down. " Oh yes, found one for a Mr. Lucas, please go on in " the small man announced. Lucas nodded and stepped forward but was stopped by a gorilla sized hand. The tall man in the jet black suit leaned in towards Lucas. Lucas couldn't see the man's eyes through the black mirror-like glasses on his face but he could feel the man staring right into Lucas's soul. In a deep voice the man said " Ladies first, mind your manners " and stood back up straight, his arm pushing and holding the door for Jacklyn as she proudly walks in. " Strong AND well mannered, this place is surely worth every cent " Jacklyn casually flirted back to the tall man as she walked through proudly.

Lucas on the other hand quietly snuck through the doors right behind her as if he was breaking into the place instead. The young couple walked through the brightly lit small palace scene which seemed crested in gold, diamonds, and red carpet. The room lead to the end with a elevator and a medium sized man in a finely-fashioned yellow tuxedo who seemed to carry his job with up most importance, which could also be said for his mustache. He wasn't there to intimidate but he was not a push over either, he was there to serve. When Jacklyn and Lucas reached the elevator doors, the man in the yellow tux pressed the button which called the elevator to start coming down it's 150 floor descent. " If you have any questions before you head up, I'm sure I can answer them for you " The yellow tux man said politely to the couple. " What's on the menu? " Jacklyn joked. " You'll see when the menu arrives " the yellow tux man answered back. His face was business serious but his tone carried the joke. Jacklyn smiled.

Lucas thought he would give it a try too. " What's the dress code in a place like this? " Lucas joked to the yellow tux man to which he answered " I suggest you keep the clothes on till you leave the tower, buster " the man's face and tone wasn't having none of Lucas's child-like behavior. Lucas frowned a bit as Jacklyn tried hard to hold in her laughter till the ding of the elevator arrived. The golden doors opened to the small traveling room. Lucas and Jacklyn step in and to which the yellow tux man pressed the button again, causing the door to shut. The elevator kicked into gear and shifted upwards. Jacklyn shifted her body into Lucas's and smiled to him. " This place is just wonderful isn't it? " Jacklyn happily said to him. " Not too impressed with the staff " Lucas said back, still frowning a bit. " Come now, don't let the big mean fancy men get to you " Jacklyn cheered Lucas up in a joking tone. She hugged him tightly and he hugged her back. Eventually the elevator dinged. The doors opening to the dining area of the tower though something else had their attention.

Jacklyn and Lucas walked out the elevator, past the room full of New York's upper-class men and women and the elegant foods with many delicate smells, and straight to the windows. The tower was built to look down on the entire city but not to be too tall and force the necks of the people to look straight down. The most anyone had to do in the tower was tilt their head downwards to see the city from a bird's eye view and tilt their head upwards to see the sparklingly stars. Lucas and Jacklyn looked down towards the city. A multicolored glowing sea below them, with each color being a wave from the buildings, the colored fish with their headlights swimming the streets deeper in the sea as the current went on. " Miss, your table is ready. " A waitress broke the wonder illusion between the couple and the city below. Jacklyn and Lucas hesitantly turned away from the glass and walked to their table.

Lucas pulled the chair out for Jacklyn as she sat down, then does the same for his own chair. A woman who looked more like a statue of beauty, downed in a twinkling gold dress playing the piano in a smoothing melody, the music accompanying the couples in the tower. The waitress stepped to the tables, passing out menus. Jacklyn chose the steak as Lucas went with the lobster. They talked on as the night danced on, it seemed like they were meeting for the first time again. Childhood stories and likes and dislikes and laughs were traded between Lucas and Jacklyn between each bite of food. Lucas learned that Jacklyn had interest in learning piano and had a strong liking to older movies while she learned Lucas liked watching motorbike races on TV and a dislike of forest venturing, his luck hasn't been the best all his life and had seen too many movies where things went wrong when people traveled out into forests. After the food was finished and bill paid, Lucas hiding the tear rolling down his check from Jacklyn when he saw the amount. Jacklyn stood up and stretched a bit, her body was not used to the tight strangely cushioned chairs. Turning she saw a spiral stair case leading up to the roof. The sign in front of the staircase said " Staff only. " Lucas stood up and saw where Jacklyn's attention was.

" I guess we can't explore everything then " Jacklyn said a little disappointed. " Fuck it. " Lucas said confidently. His hand grabbed hold of her's and led her to the stair case. Silently laughing and smiling Jacklyn asked " Are you sure? We could get in a lot of trouble…" though secretly she wanted him to go through with this plan. " They robbed me of two years pay, I can go where I damn please. ". " Two years pay?! " Jacklyn asked back confused and somewhat sorry for the man. " Don't worry about it. " Lucas told her, turning back and smiling smugly while running past the helpless sign and climbing up the stairs with her. A voice behind them shouted " Hey! Don't go u-" but then was muffled out when Lucas popped open the hatch and climbed out with Jacklyn. The roof of the tower was a sharp needle pointed to the sky except for a railing which lopped around the point, LED lights lining the rails as a way to provide a visible path to anyone walking on the rails and also is a pleasing sight to anyone down on the street.

The wind was tough but not enough to push them over. The air much colder up here, causing them to shiver a bit. Lucas held Jacklyn's hand tightly till they got up to the mid point of the railing. Lucas stopped and turned to Jacklyn. She looked even more beautiful now in the starry night sky. The midnight-blue sky and white twinkling stars sky seemed upside down as an multicolored aurora borealis from the city lights brighten up the ground below them. The soft piano music reaching them through the roof completed the scene. Jacklyn stood closely to Lucas then hugging him. " For warmth " she said sarcastically. Lucas giggled a bit. " Well if you're cold, we can always go back down " he said back with equal amount of sarcasm. Jacklyn looked back up to him. Her soft brown eyes reflecting his face with the stars behind it. " Screw you, I'm staying out here. This is all beautiful " Jacklyn said without the sarcasm, her eyes trailing the stars.

" Yes she is " Lucas said back tenderly, his hand holding her cheek gently. Jacklyn blushed and look back to Lucas. He gracefully smiled to her and then leaned in. Jacklyn leaned into Lucas too. Their eyes closed but their lips opened, softly meeting each other as they kissed. Lucas's arms held Jacklyn tightly to himself as her arms did the same, their lips parting and meeting again. A star shot across the sky as the completed scene of the couple's love marked among the stars lasted for what seemed forever in the night.


	7. Chapter 7

Nuclear winter

Chapter 7

Walking down the stairs quickly, the people downstairs had forgotten about the rebel couple after a few minutes of their dinner and entertainment. Lucas led Jacklyn to the elevator and pressed the button for the door to close and to send them down. The elevator took about four minutes to travel from bottom to top. Lucas wrapped his arm tightly around Jacklyn the second the door closed. Jacklyn reading his mind and turning to him, her large chest pressing against his as they kiss more again. The first couple of kisses had been romantic, but now they were turning arousing, more lewd actions followed them. The elevator dinged and started moving down, much like jacklyn's hands against lucas's chest, her lips against his.

A slip of tongue made the moment even more heated, Jacklyn tasting more of lucas. His hands slid down to her ass, lifting Jacklyn a bit and sitting her on the arm railing of the tiny traveling room, their lips kissing even deeper into the other's mouth. Her hand slid up his hair, ruffing it a bit as his hands felt her body through the dress, wrinkling it a good bit. The elevator dinged at the 5th floor as a warning of coming to a stop. Lucas slid Jacklyn off the railing and stood by her side, as if to play nothing happened. The door opened and the couple started quickly walking through the lobby till a voice commanded them " Stop right there you two! " Lucas and Jacklyn stopped and turned. The yellow tux man stormed to them. " We were ju-" Lucas started. " Silence " the yellow tux man stopped him. Reaching into his pocket and pulling out a pocket comb, he grabbed Lucas by the collar with his other hand and bent him over, combing his messed up hair back into 'fancy fashionable'.

Sliding the comb back into his pocket, the yellow tux man with his hands very gently and respectfully, started flating out Jacklyn's dress. " You both are representing our establishment, please look nice entering and leaving the building area and when you get home, you two have yourselves a very wonderful night. " The yellow tux man said to them, shuffling them out the door somehow looking better than when they walked in.

Lucas and Jacklyn walked quickly to the car and drove back to his appartment. Together they raced through the lobby and up to his room, opening the door and locking it behind themselves. Instantly they turned to each and started kissing each other hard, their bodies pressed tightly together. Lucas's lips trailed down to her neck, kissing and sucking as her leg slid up to his waist, his hand roaming her bare thigh up the skirt and to her ass, grabbing it tightly as they slowly walked and partly hopped to the bed, falling on it hard with lucas on top of jacklyn. Quickly her hands ripped off lucas's shirts, revealing his slightly built chest.

Lucas blushed and slightly moaned as her hands and lips went down his neck and chest. Lifting her chin up with his finger, Lucas kissed Jacklyn more. She stood back up against the bed, her arms behind her and slowly pulled the zipper down the back of the dress. Very slowly, her dress all together fell down her body, the kinky surprise of Jacklyn only wearing lingerie panties underneath.

She planned the night to go this way and was prepared. Lucas's face lit red as he saw her naked huge breasts and figure, the crotch area of his pants shot forward. Jacklyn smiled lustfully and yanked at his pants, wanting them off. Lucas quickly pulled off the pants and boxers, leaving him naked too. Jacklyn winked up at him and laid back against the bed. Lucas laid down slowly on top of her, his lips kissing her body more as his fingers slowly slid up her inner thighs.

Jacklyn moaned and stretched out more on the bed. Lucas's lips and tongue explored her as his finger teased her down under, causing jacklyn to moan louder. sliding his finger out, replacing it with his lips as he started kissing her between her legs. Jacklyn reached down and felt through his hair as she moaned more, her back arching. After a bit, lucas was face to face with jacklyn as she softly wrapped her arms around him, kissing him passionately and then whispering something to his ear. lucas blushed brightly and nodded, sliding his arm up hers and taking her hand in his as jacklyn wrapped her legs around his waist. Lucas kissed her as he slowly slid himself inside of her, both moaning loudly till he was fully in. Already breathless, jacklyn looked at lucas and nodded for him to continue, her hand squeezing his tightly as lucas thrusted his hips into her.

" Wake up Bill! " Nancy whispered loudly as she jabbed her husband's side. The extremely tired middle aged man woke up and groaned " What is it now? " he asked irritated. " That boy lucas is making a racket again! " she whisper shouted back. " Fine fine " Bill groaned, rolling out of the warm comfy bed and stumbling to the wall. he was about to bang on the wall to shout to his annoying neighbor till he heard something banging the wall back. Bill pressed his ear against the wall and heard loud moans from a man and woman he assumed was lucas and whatever woman he actually managed to bring home, loud squeaking noise with each bang against the wall he assumed was their bed. Bill smiled and stumbled bacl to bed. " What the hell?! Why didn't you do something?!" his wife hissed at him. " Go back to bed woman " bill ignored his energy-sapping wife, crawling back to bed and dreaming about his younger days.

Panting hard and sweaty, Jacklyn slowly slid her shaken heated body flat on the bed, Lucas rolling to lay next to her. Jacklyn's arms and legs wrapped around him as they kissed more, breathing hard everytime their lips parted. Jacklyn laid her head on his quickly rising and falling chest. Soon they felt tired and yawning, Lucas wrapped his arms around jacklyn, who had already fell asleep, and followed her with his closing eyes.


	8. Nuclear Winter Chapter 8

Nuclear winter

chapter 8

Lucas woke up with a groan. He went to sit up but felt stuck. Lifting the blanket a little and found a naked Jacklyn sleeping on his chest. Blushing hard as he rememebered the night before. The light from the window entered her little hiding hole and Jacklyn slowly opened her eyes, yawning hard. " Good morning handsome " she said in a tired voice, stretching out while on top of him. " Good morning to you too " Lucas smiled back down to Jacklyn and kissed her lips.

It was the weekend finally. Jacklyn was the first out of the bed, still proudly naked as she slowly wandered to the end of the bed, sliding on her underwear and pj's. Lucas followed her, sliding on his boxers and sleep pants. Jacklyn hopped on the couch and flicked on the TV as Lucas walked into the kitchen part of the apartment room. Thanks to a reminder on the fridge the night before last, Lucas actually had food in his fridge so that jacklyn wouldn't think of him as a fast-food junkie.

Bringing out an iron skillet and a large wooden spoon and some eggs, Lucas turned on the stove and started cooking the eggs for them. Jacklyn flipped the channels till the news came on. The man at the table looked less cheery than usual. His suit a little bit of a mess but nothing the casual watcher would notice. " Today we have received word of increased Chinese military activity. We have footage of Chinese practice missile launching " The screen then proceded to play a short video of a large missile shooting up out of a large steel hatch and firing away up into the sky. From the angle that the video was shot from, it almost seemed like the person recoding was trying to stay sneaky and made sure the camera wasn't seen. Lucas sat down on the couch, cuddling Jacklyn in his arms and kissing her forehead while sliding a plate of fried eggs into her hands. Each taking turns taking a bite from the cooked eggs while watching the TV. The news man continued " Though the missile has landed in the center of the Pacific ocean and the Chinese government proclaims no ill intentions in said missile practices, the President of the United States still insists the public to be aware and prepared for any alarms."

The news switch over to the weather, as always chilly in october. After finishing the eggs, the young couple took a shower together, to save time of course. Sliding in their police uniforms, Lucas and Jacklyn walked to the door and started their day. Together they walked through the lobby, hand in hand. " Um. Mr.Lucas? " Lucas turned, shocked again, the woman behind the counter of the lobby of his apartment that was usually asleep, bored, or on her phone or all three at once, was actually forming work-related words out of her mouth. Lucas walked to the counter and the woman reached into the box underneath the desk and pulled out an white envelope and handed it to him. " A strange looking man came by and dropped this off, he asked it be handed directly to you only. " the woman explained. Lucas took up the envelope and walked with Jacklyn to the car.

Once inside, Lucas opened the envelope and pulled out a bearly ledigable note, along with two bright tickets. Jacklyn took the tickets from lucas's lap as he read the note out loud the best he could. " Get out now, if can't, use ticket, good luck ". Lucas stared at the note strangely. The English was not good, as if it was the writer's second language. " Vault-tec? " Jacklyn asked. " What about them? " Lucas asked. Jacklyn showed the ticket to Lucas. It was bright blue and yellow with bold letters " Welcome to vault 46! " with the classic proud-standing vault boy in the corner. Tiny white wording on the back of each ticket stated that the tickets were a form of receipt. Lucas didn't know what was going on. " How about I hang on to them and we figure it out later? " Jacklyn proposed, stuffing the tickets in her cop jacket. Lucas started up the car and drove down to the police station to start the shift. After getting patrol duty for the day, Lucas and Jacklyn parked the patrol bike on the side of a road in front of a pizza joint, walking the block.

" Hey, don't think about it. We probably won't even need to use the tickets " Jacklyn could read lucas's distressed face and knew he was thinking about the tickets. " I know, and you're right, it's just, what did it mean by 'get out now'? " Lucas asked. Even Jacklyn was puzzled by this part of the letter but she kept her face straight. " I don't know but luckily we have the- " she paused for corny dramatic effect " The backup plan!~ " she softly shouted like it was her master plan. Lucas gave her a giggle and warped his arm around her, kissing her head softly. " Well I guess the brightside of all this is that we get to see the inside of that new vault " Lucas said. When he moved to New York 5 years ago, he was very disappointed in learning that central park was shut out to the public for being under construction of the new vault.Vault 46.

The construction crews were almost done so about a year ago, the park was re-opened to the public. Everything was same except now a huge metal pad was set up in a corner of the park, supposedly to lower levels to the vault buried deep underneath the park. No one has seen the inside except for the vault tec staff they sent to New York to work the vault. Tv commercials and advertisments in stores and shops appeared all over for the first couple of months, however due to the lack of concern for their safety, a disappointing amount of people actually paid to have their seat in an event of " Total atomic annilation " as the vault tec commercials would say. Of course any military personal that was active duty within the last ten years got in for free due to their commitment to their country, but even with those people who got in for free, there was still more than half the vault to be filled. And now they just got two more members, if Lucas and Jacklyn wanted to stay there.

The day ended rather quickly, the couple hopping on their motorbike and driving back to the station and then back to the apartment. Lucas and Jacklyn stripped off their uniforms and transformed back to their relaxation of "home" aka t-shirt and sweat pants. Cuddling in lucas's bed with his new room mate, jacklyn's cat, with an action show on its usual time. Closing his eyes, Lucas fell asleep holding Jacklyn in his comfortable apartment room in his roaring glowing city.


	9. Chapter 9

Nuclear winter

Chapter 9

Lucas and Jacklyn walked down the side walk in their uniforms, hand in hand. " Plans for tonight? " Jacklyn asked lucas, her arms around his. They weren't supposed to be this open in public given their jobs, but they didn't care much about it, they were humans after all. " No why? " Lucas asked. " Well I was thinking why not walk the park tonight? " Jacklyn said. " We haven't since they opened it up huh? Yea we can. " Lucas smiled to her and she smiled back. The morning was a little misty and wet with a nice chill in the air, a typical october day. The busy sounds of cars in the streets, the commercials and shows broadcasted on large moving billboards on the sides of large buildings and screens in shops. The chatter of the people about a variety of subjects. All of it was the normal day in New York city. Then it all changed.

The sudden static sound filled the air as every screen in the city changed. Lucas and Jacklyn along with everyone else stood in confusion. Lucas led Jacklyn to a store's window, a large tv hung on a wall from the inside. The screen changed back to the news, along with many others. The news man stood at his usual table, except everything was different. The table, usually neatly organized with papers, was scattered with them as if a gust of wind had just blown through. The man, usually nicely dressed and calm, looked like he was just jumped in the alley way and rushed to work, his crooked tie on the outside of his roughed up suit. His hair a mess and a sense of panick in his voice and eyes. " C-Citizens of new york, this is a e-emergency broadcast. We have con-confirmed reports of nuclear launch missiles approaching this area as we speak. "

He turned to the people behind the camera " Are we sure about this one? " A woman behind the camera spoke " Yes, our own missiles shot down some but one made it past. Time of detonation? " Another man behind the camera also stated " we are getting news that….wait...oh..oh no.." " What is it? " " we just lost Pennsylvania...they took a direct hit " The woman behind the camera started gagging on tears. " we..we have news from DC, another atomic bomb has a direct path route to the New York area. Please, everyone take shelter now! " The man shouted to the camera, rushing from his own seat and out of camera view. People stood in disbelief. Some didn't, running and screaming in panick. Lucas's grip on jacklyn's arm turned steel. "We have to go, now. " he said to her firmly, wanting to keep the panick out so he could think. " But where? " Jacklyn hurriedly asked back.

Lucas questioned that himself. A nuke was heading right for them. The apartment buildings would be like paper to a flamethrower. The underground railroad stations were quickly being filled with people in panick. Wait. Underground. The park. The vault! " Tickets! Do you still have the tickets? " Lucas asked her, rushing her along to his police motorbike. Jacklyn reached in her pocket and pulled out the two brightly blue tickets. " Yes! I got them! " she shouted to him. The noise of the crowd was so loud, the couple had to scream to just hear each other. Sprinting down the sidewalk to where they last left the bike. People rushing past them, shoving past each other to paths and destinations they did not know. The sense of panick just made people want to run in general. The radio strapped to Lucas's and Jacklyn's uniforms started speaking, the voice of their commissioner shouting through the line. " All units report to times square immediately, we need to organize these people into shelter! " Jacklyn looked around, many people did not know what to do, true, running around like headless chickens, which in a few minutes these people might as well be. She felt the responsibility to help these people, even if that meant taking a nuclear blast head on. Lucas however shoved jacklyn along. Had this been a simple terrorist attack, sure, Lucas would have stayed behind and helped. But this was a nuclear warhead. it would turn everything into fire and ash and those who somehow survived, would have to deal with fallout and radiation poisoning. The only chance he and jacklyn would have at survival was the vault, and he was not ready for either of them to die yet.

Lucas shove past a thick crowd, his grip on jacklyn's arm was hurting her but they both knew there was a huge chance of dying if they spent their very short time looking for each other if they got separated. A car crashed into another as they push to the side of the street, the motorbike was gone. " Shit! Just run! " Jacklyn screamed. Lucas and Jacklyn sprint across the car littered street. Their feet flew across concrete and into grass. Trees zoom past them as they ran. Through a small clearing there were men and women in blue suits and padded armor behind a gate. A person in a suit of grey power armor stood behind the gate doors with a strange rifle. A small crowd of people bunched against the sealed gate. Their hands and fingers testing it with pulls and tugs. " Get back! Get back! This is a restricted area! " The man in blue padded armor screamed at the crowd. Lucas and jacklyn tried shoving through the crowd, but the wave of people pushed them further away from the gate.

Lucas couldn't think through the panic of people, the air becoming hot around him as he slowly felt his body sinking into the dark masses. The sound of panic slowly fading as he desperately look to jacklyn, his iron grip on her arm slowly loosening. Jacklyn had the look of panic in her eyes too, her hand searching her pockets for anything that might help. Her fingers felt a smooth plastic. Jacklyn's eyes lit up with hope.

The heavy T-51 power armored man holding the laser rifle tried his best to keep his cool. Every instinct told him to just jump in the vault and chill out but his duty was to control the crowd and accept the people with blue Vault-Tec tickets. Also as if he summoned it, two blue shiny tickets shot up in the air, a tan hand desperately waving them in the air. The power armor man jumped into action. Forcing the gate open with one hand and pushing people back with the other hand. " Come on! Now! " He screamed, reaching into the crowd and pulled the woman and man dressed in police uniforms out of the crowd, throwing them to the safety of the other side of the gate. The crowd shoved the best they could past the man in what might as well have been a tank with legs. The gate slammed shut.

Jacklyn and Lucas ran up the hill. Lucas looked back, the rifle in the man's hands pointed at the man climbing the gate, trying his best to ignore the barbed wire at the top. His finger pulled the trigger and the rifle fired, but not like anything Lucas had seen before. Instead of the usual Bang, a Zoom sounded off the barrel of the rifle. No bullet or blood but a clean red laser split the air, leaving a deep burn mark on the man, flying back into the deep of the crowd. Jacklyn pulled Lucas back to the task at hand. They reached the metal gear shaped pad in the center of the platform. The pad instantly shifted and lowered. Lucas held jacklyn tightly in his arms as the world they knew elevated away from their sights as they descended into the darkness.


	10. Chapter 10

The gear shaped platform lowered down with creaks and squeaks but steadily. Lucas held jacklyn in his arms tightly as they descended deeper. About a minute in, they finally saw light as the platform slowed to a stop. A grated wall stood in front of them and then it was slowly lifted. Together they stepped off of the metal platform and onto the concrete flooring, meeting a long line of unorganized and terrified people. All of them were proud citizens of New York city this morning, now they're just survivors. The line of people were slowly moving forward as Lucas and Jacklyn joined them at the back of the line, the grated wall slowly coming down behind them. Apart from the crowd, two of the vault suit wearing engineers stood at the platform controls.

" Should we send it back up? " One of them asked quietly. " There is no point in it, it won't get up there fast enough " The other engineer said softly though there was plenty of lost in his eyes.

Within the line was concerned voices, the tone of panic still lingered in the people. They were led to believe they were safe from any danger above ground but no one was completely certain. Whispers of what would happen next floated about. A overhead loudspeaker sounded off, a falsely optimistic voice spoke through. " Newly citizens of Vault 46, please follow the yellow line through the stations to your new lives! " Lucas's arm wrapped around jacklyn's tightly as the herd of people pushed along the lane.

Suddenly a loud thud hit from above ground, the sound and vibration shook the vault hard, dust and pebbles dropping from the dirt ceiling of the entrance tunnel. The crowd screamed and the children cried as the lights shut off but quickly flittered back on. Lucas and Jacklyn held tightly onto each other, breathing hard as they made sure they were still alive. The cries of the nuclear blast survivors filling the large metal tunnel.

" We survived the blast, everyone continue moving forward so we can take you inside, inside the vault is safety!" A blue and yellow suit guard shouted loudly and firmly. The crowd relucantly moved forward, sensing that anywhere is better than up right now. Finally stepping infront of the crowd, Lucas and Jacklyn came to two people. A fairly thick middle aged man and an older and thinner woman, both outfitted in the same strange blue and yellow suits.

" I know it's been a strange and difficult day for you both, here, these are on the vault. " The older woman said warmly with a well practiced smile and passed two large plastic bags towards them. Lucas and jacklyn picked up the bags and saw the same suits inside of them. The only difference is the labeling on the front, one saying Males and other saying Females.

" There's fitting rooms down the hall, men to the left and women to the right. After you two are done, head down the hall and take a left to the large room " The thick man said, busy with opening another box of plastic bagged suits to hand out. "The suits may be tight at first but they'll stretch to fit your body, its mostly a 'One size fit all' deal" the older woman said quickly while grabbing a pair of the suits from the same box. Lucas and jacklyn started moving down the hall, arms still linked.

Lucas pulled jacklyn tightly to him, whispering in her ear "If anything happens, get away and get to me if you can, if you can't find me, call me in " Lucas nudged to their radios on their shoulders. Jacklyn nodded and added " You do the same " Lucas nodded and let her go, quickly walking into the men's changing room.

The room was small, meant for one or two people at a time. The only features of the room being a small bench and mirror against the wall. Lucas pressed his hands against the walls and felt around, making sure none of them had some secret door for a possible ambush. It wasn't that Lucas didn't trust the people here, he just wanted to make sure he wasn't having any more unpleasant surprises today. The room seemed safe enough. Lucas unhooked the small shoulder police radio from his shoulder strap and placed it on the door hook so he can change but also to be able to quickly grab it incase jacklyn called. Striping out of his shirt, Lucas slid off his belt, a 10 mm loaded pistol, a harden plastic baton and a ultilty knife securely strapped in. He placed the belt onto the hook too, stripping out of his pants. Ripping open the plastic bag, the blue vault suit unfolding out. The design simple with a long zipper down the center from the neck to belt line. Turning it around, a bright golden 46 branded on the back. Lucas stepped into the suit and zipped it up. The suit was a bit snugged and hugged his body tightly, the fabric flexible enough to breath and move around though. Lucas still strapped on his radio and slid his belt in the belt loops of the vault suit.

Picking up his police uniform, Lucas stepped out of the changing room, another man rushing in before the door even closed. Outside the ladies room, jacklyn stood with her uniform in her arms too, her vault suit seemed very similar but different from the one she got. The design was the same but the suit seemed different in certain areas and shaded darker.

" Quit staring, i had to swap suits with one of the staff to find one with the right cup size " Jacklyn remarked, walking towards Lucas.

" Well it very certainly looks good on you " Lucas replied back, viewing how well the suits hugged her curves.

" Stay focus, we need to…..to…" Jacklyn started but couldn't finish the sentence. Lucas noticed her face was very pale. Lowering herself onto the ground, Jacklyn sat down and tried to keep herself from the verge of tears.

" What even happened?...it happened so quickly it's so hard to believe…." Jacklyn stared at the floor, her voice shaky. Lucas sat down next to her and held her in his arms.

" I don't know either. I'm sure we will find out something. We just have to stay together now. " Lucas said calmly. He was honestly scared, not sure about anything about today. He hoped that he was actually still in bed, in a city that wasn't on fire right now. After a minute Lucas stood up.

" We have to keep moving forward, you with me? " Lucas held out his hand.

Jacklyn looked up at him and softly smiled, taking his hand as he pulled her up. They slowly walked down the loud hall and through the metal doorway into the main halls. The vault, loud with voices while the nightmare hellscape that was left of New York city burned brightly, the air darken with ash and filled with the horrid of screams.


	11. Chapter 11

Nuclear Winter

Chapter 11

" Ok everyone, please enter the room and find a seat, you will be received in the hall when it is over." A blue suited woman said loudly to the large crowds of panicked people. Lucas held onto jacklyn's hand tightly as they reached the front of the crowd. Within the large hall was multiple large cylinder-like rooms. The large metal sliding door of one of the smaller rooms slid up as a staff member pushed jacklyn and lucas aside from the door. "I'm going have to take those off of you." The man said, notioning to their police tool belts. "And why is that?" Jacklyn asked defensively. "The machine is a very delicate one, we can't have any loose items or clothing in the room while activated in fear of a malfunction. And trust me, we don't want that." The man ended his sentence very seldomnly.

Lucas glared at the man for a second, not sure about fully trusting him but knew they really didn't have a choice. Reluctantly they stripped off their police belts, now only in their vault suits without their pistols, batons or radios. "I'll place them in the storage area so you may pick them back up afterwards." The man said very politely but Lucas knew in his tone that he could care less. The man scurried off with the police couple's belts and lucas and jacklyn stepped through the doorway of the cylinder room.

Inside the center of the room was a large rod that connected floor to ceiling. Along the round walls was large seats with multiple seatbelts. Some people were already strapped in and some picking their seats. Lucas and jacklyn quickly sat next to each other on the hard plastic seats. Looking around, Lucas noticed how overabundant the seat belts seemed. Two seat belts came diagonal across the torso, another around the waist and strangely two more sets of seatbelts, one across the wrists to the armrests and one across the thighs to the seat itself. Lucas and jacklyn looked at each other, hesitant on buckling themselves in. Everything about this vault was setting off red flags all over Lucas's brain.

Lucas was about to stand up when a strong tall staff woman pushed him back into his seat, quickly strapping his seatbelts like it was the everyday routine. "Ma'am! What is going on?!" Lucas asked though it came out as more of a shout. The staff woman ignored Lucas, forcing his hands down on the armrests and strapping his wrists in, leaving him helpless as she was finishing up his seat belts when jacklyn stood up, her hand grabbing the woman's shoulder and turned her around quickly.

"Let him go!" jacklyn scream, her hands balled up in fists. Lucas knew where this was heading but he couldn't move at all and he doubt he could talk her out of this fight. "What seems to be the problem here?" an old but gentle voice sounded in the room. Both women turned to find an old man, vault suit with a grey beard from one cheek to the other. His steps were slow with his slight hunch but he stepped confidently, well-knowing either woman could crush him in her fist but he acted as if they were children. "I'm tired of not knowing what's going on! Bombs one minute and this the next! What is going on, the truth now!" jacklyn shouted, small veins lined her fists with how tight she was holding them. "I must admit, today has definitely been a strange one, but that is not an excuse to act animalistic." The old man simply said. "It's reason to not panic when you trip on a curb and scrape your knee or if you're driving and end up in a car wreck. When bombs fall from the sky and destroy your home and kill everyone around you and then have yourself shoved in a hole in the ground, I think that's a real good fucking reason to panic!" jacklyn protested loudly to where even lucas could see the distress on the faces of the people in the room with them start to grow. "I've noticed you and your friend here walk in with police uniforms on, save that energy for these folks." The old man told jacklyn, slowly waving his hand around the room towards the people in it. "What do you mean?" "You have a caring character to you, one shown through force and protection. Your boyfriend appreciates it I'm sure" The old man said, a small smug smirk added this time. "How did you know we were dating?" Jacklyn asked suspiciously, her fists slowly unwinding. "Please dear, after eighty-seven years of existence, you see things so much you can predict things the second you see it." The old man gave a short raspy giggle.

"You didn't answer my question." jacklyn said. "Yes, this machine you're in, is a g-force training machine. The reason why this is necessary is because Vault Tec has a secret railway system underground to connect all the vaults to a certain classified area." The man began pacing back and forth in the room. "And at that classified area are spaceships to fly people off into space to a space station on the moon. This machine is to separate the people who can handle the g-forces and those who can't." The man continues. "This sound crazy, and what exactly happens to the people who can't go?" jacklyn interrupted. "This sounds crazy yes, but didn't you see on the weather channel the one hundred percent chance of atomic fire?" The old man snapped back, a small bit of spike in his voice. Jacklyn slowly backed down, sitting down in the seat but still refusing the seat belts. "The people who stay will live here until they are strong enough to withstand the forces or if they never can, to live out their days here. We have supplies to keep this place going for a very long time but I'm sure living in a safe place that you can look upward and not see dirt would be a much more preferably place to be." The old man finished.

The room was silent. Lucas sighed and looked at jacklyn. "Crazy or not, I'll be there for you, no matter if we are going to space or tra-a-la-la land." Lucas said with a small smile. Jacklyn smiled back and leaned over and kissed him before sitting back in her seat, doing her own seatbelts till the woman had to help her with the ones on her wrists. The woman then stepped out and the old man looked around the small round room at the many faces strapped into their seats, young and old. blonde, brunette and red haired. White skin, black skin, tan skin. Almost a small unity of those all over from a world recently caught on fire. "I wish you all luck, I really do." He said quietly and then stepped out.

Lucas leaned his head back and exhaled. The door shut behind him and loudly locked. The headrests shifted, the sides turning to perfectly fit the head between the sides. Lucas nor jacklyn could turn their head, the headrests keeping them staring forwards. The lights in the room dimmed and the room shifted to life. Very slowly the room started to spin, the large rod in the center of the room seemed to be rotating. The room started to spin slightly faster, a whoosh sound each rotation that happened. "Lucas?" Lucas could hear jacklyn's voice filled with hesitation. "Yes?" Lucas answered back the best he could, the room was spinning faster, making his mind feel dizzy as if he was in a carnival ride. "In case we don't make it out of here. I love you." Jacklyn said loudly, trying to make sure Lucas heard her. "I love you too." Lucas answered. The room was spinning on a rollercoaster level now, his body definitely feeling the pressure as he closed his eyes. The whooshing sound came faster and faster as everything started becoming a heavy blur, forcing Lucas to close his eyes and grip the armrests tightly. The spinning got so fast to the point where Lucas couldn't tell the last time the room rotated, the whooshing sounds became one sound. Lucas found it hard to breath, his whole body feeling crushed under the pressure. What seemed like minutes passed when suddenly a different sound came. A creaking almost wobbling sound like something came loose. The room suddenly felt hotter. Lucas forced his eyes open. The color of the room was not dark but orange. The rod in the center violently wobbled and bend until a loud snap noise rang out through the room. The rod broke into three, sending the large center part flying outward. The ear-splitting sound of the room creaking and sparks flying underneath his feet.

Lucas felt like screaming but knew it wouldn't help anything if he did, his hands white from gripping the armrests as the room started to slow. There was no whooshing sound but he felt it, the rotations happening less and less. The seats dropped a bit, some parts scraping against the concrete floor. Lucas held his eyes close again, the room feeling even hotter than before. After a painful minute of creaking and scrapping, the seats slam to a sudden jolt, stopping all the seats instantly and the headrests popping loose to let the heads of the seat dwellers free. Lucas's head felt dizzy with a head-splitting headache. His eyes slowly open to a devastating sight. The room had caught flame, fires bursting out of the walls but no one responding. Sparks zapping in and out of where large spinning rod used to be. Lucas gasped for air as black smoke rose up from under him and filling the ceiling of the room.

Something fell into Lucas's hand. Looking down, he found a large shard of metal that fell from the ceiling. The leather bounds still held Lucas to his seat. Flipping the metal in his hand, Lucas started on cutting off the leather strap. Within a minute the strap was cut and his arm free. Lucas quickly undid the rest of the straps. Pushing himself out of the seat, lucas's legs collapsed underneath him, causing him to hit the ground hard with a painful grunt escaping his mouth.

The room around him seemed to be spinning but he knew that was just from the dizziness. A groan sounded from Lucas as he slowly dragged himself to jacklyn's seat. His hands gripped her armrests as he pulled himself up. "Jac-Jacklyn" Lucas weakly called out to her. His vision fully came back to him as he saw she was simply unconscious, her head slump down but her chest still heaving back and forth. Undoing her straps, Lucas caught jacklyn before she fell out of her seat. Slowly dragging jacklyn across the room with him, Lucas looked around. The room lit up by fire blowing through the holes along the walls. A small red puddle grew on the ground under one of the seats near lucas. Looking up, Lucas saw the gruesome sight of where the large midsection of the rod flew off, impaling one of the vault suit wearing victims in his seat, his head hanging low as red hot blood ran from his gut and onto the floor. Holding back a gag, Lucas dragged jacklyn to the large metal door. Pulling the emergency level, the door slowly creaked upward. Lucas pulled jacklyn out of the cylinder room just before the room exploded on the inside, the door slamming down just before the flames caught them. Lucas laid out on the floor, exhausted and feeling extremely light headed. He slid his head to jacklyn's chest where he heard her heartbeat and her breaths. She was still alive. Lucas rolled to lay down next to her, staring at the dirt ceiling above him. His eyes slowly closing as slow footsteps approached him before he blacked out.


	12. Chapter 12

Nuclear Winter

Chapter 12

Lucas woke up with a loud gasp, quickly looking around. He noticed that the area was very different from when he was last awake. The walls there were once extremely bright orange and blue, almost to the point of getting a headache just from looking at it, had now seemed faded. His hand touched the soft bed underneath him and he looked down to find a Vault Tec themed bed and blankets. His breathing started to calm down till he heard a soft creak in the room.

Looking at the end of the bed, lucas spotted a old man slouched in a chair some feet away from the bed. Lucas noticed that the man's skin was very pale, almost paperwhite, his vault suit seemed faded along with the walls but easily contrasted the vibrant blue and gold of lucas's own suit. Very slowly, the old man poked his head up, his eyelids opening to stare at lucas. "Ahh, glad you're awake, it was getting quite lonely in here…" the man spoke barely above a whisper. "Umm. Who are you?" Lucas asked, twisting his body so his feet touched the floor and attempted to stand but up instantly felt lightheaded, stars entering his eyes as he dropped back down onto the bed.

The old man slowly stood up from his chair and carefully walked over to lucas's bed. "Woah, easy there, easy. You've been out cold for a couple of days now. Why don't you just relax a second? Get your bearings. Let's see what the damage is. How bout your name? Can you tell me your name?" the old man softly asked, sitting himself on the end of the bed looking over Lucas. Lucas laid with his back against the bed, facing the ceiling but having to cover his eyes from the ceiling light. "Lucas, Lucas Steely." Lucas answered. "I'm Joshua, nice to meet you." The old man answered his own question politely. "Where's Jacklyn?" Lucas asked, a tone of desperation accidently slipping into his voice. "I don't know who that is but if she was the pretty lady that was with ya, she's on the bed over there." Joshua explained, his hand slowly raising to his left, his finger pointing to the bed near the metal door.

Lucas leaned his head towards that direction and saw the bed with a woman laying on top of the blankets. Lucas lifted himself up to his feet again, swaying a bit but slowly taking a step. His head started feeling normal again as his vision started to straighten out from the daze he was under. Much like joshua's walking pattern, lucas slowly and carefully made his way to the bed. Lucas reached the bed and placed his hands on the sheets, steadying himself as his eyes finally adjusted. Jacklyn laid on the bed, her chest slowly raising and falling as a sign she was breathing. Lucas let out a sigh of relief, leaning down and softly kissing her head.

Jacklyn's eyes instantly open as her fist shot up, socking lucas right in the jaw and bringing him down to the ground from the shock. Jacklyn sat up and looked at what her fist had just made contact with, spotting Lucas groaning on the floor and she leaned down from the bed, her hand reaching down to hold his arm. "Oh, um. Sorry? Reflexes." Jacklyn apologized awkwardly as lucas pulled himself up onto the bed. Joshua softly laughing while still on the bed across the room got their attention. "Waiting all these years and I never thought THAT would be to first thing I see, ha ha." Jacklyn eyed down joshua, her fist reeling back for another target until lucas placed his hand over her's. "Who is this?" Jacklyn asked lucas out the side of her mouth, her eyes still staring down joshua.

"That's Joshua" Lucas answered her, although different question was going through his head. "Joshua, you said 'all these years', what did you mean by that?" Lucas questioned. Joshua's face turned from a drunken happiness mood to cold sober one, shifting uncomfortably on the bed. "That is a long story to explain." Joshua slowly and quietly said, standing up from the bed. " But I'm sure the two of you are hungry, or will be in a minute. Come, it's better if you have food in your bellies." Joshua crept across the room to the metal door and pressed the golden button the wall. The metal door lifted upward and Joshua stepped through into the hallway. Lucas stood up and helped jacklyn up, who too felt lightheaded when she stood up. Lucas wrapped his arm around her waist as jacklyn lifted her arm over his shoulder and they slowly walked out the room after Joshua, the metal door lowering back to the floor.

As they walked through the hallway, jacklyn couldn't help but notice how empty and quiet the vault felt as opposed to the loud chorus of panicked voices that echoed through the halls when they first arrived. "Where is everyone?" She asked ahead to joshua. Joshua continued his slow march down the hall silently until they reached another room, this one with a large desk in the center of the room with a terminal on it. There was a large part of the room that was behind a locked door and wired walls. Joshua walked over to the terminal and typed some, the locked door opening a few moments later. "Take what you need" Joshua softly called out to lucas and jacklyn.

Looking inside, lucas knew this had to be a small storage room. One wall held weapon racks, each of the holders lined with combat rifles and shotguns and 10mm pistols. A whole crate labeled "Ammunition" sat next to them. The wall to the other side held small containers of food, some being Mac n cheese, Dandy Boy Apples, Fancy Lads Snack Cakes and a few other foods. Jacklyn reached for a can of Cram. "Who even eats this kind of stuff?" Jacklyn sarcastically asked lucas, waving the can around. " Well if you had nothing else to eat…." Lucas tried to be reasonable but personally he would rather eat dirt than have a small taste of the cram. "I'll rather eat a bug.." Jacklyn stuck her tongue out in disgust and tossed the can back, picking up the Mac n Cheese instead.

Out of the corner of his eye, Lucas spotted something familiar. On a wall hanger was two dusty sets of straps, with radios and police belts. Lucas picked them up and brushed them off, looking almost as good as when he last saw them. Lucas was happy except for something appeared different. In the holsters where their 9mm pistols normally would be, was replaced by much bulkier silver metal pistols. lucas pulled on out of the holster and inspected it. he pressed the button on the side of the gun and the bottom half of the clip slid outwards from the bottom of the grip. lucas pulled the clip out and looked at the top bullet in the clip. The end of the bullet read 10mm. lucas sighed and slammed the clip back in the pistol. _Well that sucks, I liked my 9mm_ Lucas thought to himself as he slid the pistol back in the holster. Lucas looked at the radios and pressed his thumb on the button on the side of the radio but no sound came through. "Batteries must be dead" Lucas muttered. "Here" jacklyn held out a handful of batteries. Lucas picked up the batteries and popped open the sides of the radio, replacing the batteries already in them. Pressing the button, a low static sound came from the speaker of the radios. "Is anyone there?" Lucas spoke through the radio, his voice replicating out the other radio in his hand. After a few moments, nothing but static was coming through. Lucas sighed and handed jacklyn her radio and belt. Jacklyn strapped the belt and radio to her vault suit as lucas did the same. She looked down at the 10mm pistol in her holster. "Don't ask, I don't know either." Lucas simply told her.

Lucas and jacklyn stepped out of the small storage area with a box of Mac n Cheese and their police equipment, joshua standing against the table. "Good, to the kitchen with that " Joshua started slowly walking out of the room and down the hall. "Well he isn't a bit assertive" Jacklyn sarcastically remarked to lucas, following Joshua down the hall. Lucas looked around the room. Something just seemed off, like everything was older and more faded than that "brand-spanking-new look" that Vault-Tec advertised. Lucas wasn't sure how long he was out, probably a week at most. None of this makes sense Lucas thought to himself, following what seemed to be the only other two people in the vault.


	13. Chapter 13

Nuclear Winter

Chapter 13

The large metal door slid upwards into the wall, joshua, lucas and jacklyn stepping through into a large rectangular kitchen. Stoves, sinks, countertops lined the long wall across from the door, cabinets latched to wall above them. Closets and food racks covered the side walls, although there were barely any food on them. Along the center of the room were metal benches and tables in a line, the rails holding up the tables and benches rested on top of a tile floor that at one time, were a pattern of blue and gold, had now looked dull, the colors almost being the same tone of grey.

Joshua sat down on the bench, resting his arms on the table facing the stoves. "I want to see you two make that" Joshua said, pointing a finger at the box of Mac n Cheese. "How come you wanna see us cook it?" Lucas asked curiously. "Well I have to make sure you two didn't bang your heads too hard in the accident and forgot how to cook simple foods" Joshua explained while shifting around on the bench to get comfortable. Lucas looked towards jacklyn, who simply shook her head as she walked past them and placed the box on the counter. "Um..right" Lucas said and turned towards the cabinets. He pulled the small metal knobs on the doors and opened the cabinet. Dust covered everything within the cabinet. Lucas tried blowing the dust away but ended up getting his face covered in the grey stuff. "Note one, subjects seemed to lack common sense" Lucas turned around and glared at the old man who had a smug smirk on his face.

"Here" Jacklyn handed lucas a washcloth as she reached into the cabinet and pulled out a large cooking pot. "Note two, subjects still show compassion, that's highly valued nowadays" Lucas eyed joshua again, although this time, his smirk actually seemed sincere. Jacklyn filled the pot with water and the noodles from the box and set it on a stove. Lucas walked over to the table and sat down across from Joshua as he heard the small burner catch flame and the water starting to boil behind him. "I believe you owe us some questions" Lucas sternly asked. Joshua looked down at the metal table.

After a couple of moments of silence, joshua quietly asked "What do you want to know?" Lucas stared at joshua for a couple of moments. _What can he tell me to help figure all this out the best?_ Lucas thought to himself. "Let's start simple. What day is it?" Joshua looked up at lucas. Lucas could tell by his eyes that joshua was analyzing every detail of his face. "The question" Jacklyn spoke up demandingly, leaning against the counter and facing the two men. "It's Monday, October twenty fifth" Joshua answered. _Oh, we have only been out for a few days, that isn't too bad_. Joshua took a deep breath in. "The year is 2180". _shit_. "How? How is that even possible?" Lucas asked, his breathing starting to become quicker. "Bullshit! He's lying!" Jacklyn shouted angrily to lucas. "I swear I'm not. I know it's hard to believe it's been one hundred and three years since the bombs fell and you two arrived in the vault but it's the truth." Joshua protested. "Alright, humor me for a bit. How did we get from the year 2077 to the year 2180 and yet we don't remember anything between that time but we look and feel the same way we did a hundred and three years ago. How can I remember our lives so well and yet I can't recall anything from the last century?" Jacklyn's voice grew louder and angrily, however no one saw her hand slowly sliding towards the knife in the kitchen draw.

"Simple version, time dilation" Joshua answered jacklyn while still staring at lucas. "What's that?" Lucas asked. Joshua leaned in against the table. "It's a principle that Vault-Tec wanted to experiment with. It's a thing of science that objects in motion experiences time different from objects at rest, time slows down as the object moves. At normal speeds such as what you two were used to before the bombs such as walking and driving, were not fast enough for you to experience any time difference. It takes an object speeds approaching the speed of light. It was extremely difficult for them to develop a project capable of such speeds with in a tiny area such as a vault. The chambers you two were in, they used momentum to give the subjects inside the speed of light, which made your perspective of time much slower than the people outside of the chamber. Of course you all passed out from the pressure of the g-forces. The rotary rod helped keep you all stable through the ride while the floor below the room with the chambers were filled with nuclear fusion engines that powered the chambers and coolant to help keep the engines and the rotary rod from overheating"

As Joshua explained the last hundred and three years, lucas just sat there blanked face. He was hearing what could have been the truth, but he didn't know that for sure. "It was a success for every chamber..except for yours. I do not know what happened. When I heard the explosion, I raced to the testing floor as quickly as these old brittle legs could go without snapping. There I saw you and her on the floor, barely conscious and the chamber in flames. I would have gone back to investigate but I was so worried about you two's conditions, I couldn't leave you two alone." Joshua looked back down to the table. "Although I suppose I shouldn't spend a moment of remorse since there was nothing I could do to help" Joshua said with a voice of a defeated man. Lucas reached over and placed his hand on joshua's arm. "You tried your best I'm sure." Lucas comforted the old man.

A knife stabbed the table between lucas and joshua. Jacklyn, gripping the knife tightly, stared into joshua with eyes that he could only describe as dangerous. "You say you tried your best, what about everyone else?! There were way more people in this vault than the people in our chamber and just you. Where are those people huh?!" Jacklyn was shouting in joshua's face, and yet the old man seemed unaffected by the raging armed woman. "Jacklyn! Stand down! He has the answers we need!" Lucas stood up, grabbing jacklyn by her shoulder and forcing her down away from Joshua. "They left" Joshua simply said. "What do you mean 'they left'?" Lucas calmly asked. "Part of the experiment of time dilation was releasing each chamber at a different time to study the effects had on each subject along with the chamber's durability and effectiveness over long periods of time. There were five test chambers, each one designed to release twenty five years after each other. The first vault released 2102. The second vault, 2127. The third, 2152. Fourth being 2177. Your chamber was planned to be released the year 2202 but something went wrong in the chamber, causing an early dismissal. All the subjects before you felt horrible the first day out of the chamber but after the first night's rest, they were wanting to go outside of the vault. None of them returned. All eighty years of my life, I've been here waiting, but no word from the outside world ever returned"

Joshua looked away from the couple. "I can't do this anymore tonight, I'll explain more in the morning, goodnight" Joshua got up and instantly turned his back to them, walking towards the door. "Who said we were done" Jacklyn said to the old man while gritting her teeth, the knife point on the table scratching slightly against it. Joshua ignored her as the door closed behind him. Lucas placed his hand on hers. He couldn't blame her, she was as scared of all the things that have happened as he was. "You don't actually believe all that, do you?" Jacklyn asked silently. "I'm not sure what to believe. However I do know that nothing good will come out of attacking the only other person in this vault." Lucas answered. Jacklyn stared hard at the large metal door, imagining the old man laughing as he fools two young people believing that they're time travelers now. Lucas looked up to jacklyn, placing his hand on her chin and turning her face towards him. "What?" Jacklyn asked before lucas kissed her. Jacklyn's grip on the knife loosened, letting it drop onto the table. Lucas held her there for what seemed like a minute before letting her go. "I don't believe in any of this, but I believe in you, you're real, and if we stick together, we can figure it out." Lucas whispered to jacklyn. She wrapped her arms around him and instantly fell asleep. Lucas felt himself calming down from the day and finding himself yawning as well.

Slowly, he stood up, turned off the stove with the overcooked noodles in a pot, and picked up the sleeping woman and carried her back to the room they woke back up in. Carefully, he laid her back down in the bed. Looking at the bed, Lucas noticed that each one was only big enough for one person. Lucas walked over to the nearest bed, lifting up the side and started pushing it towards her bed. The bed scrapped across the floor with a bit of noise but he was sure none of it was enough to wake jacklyn up. Lucas managed to press the beds firmly together and laid up on them, scooting his body towards hers. Lucas wrapped his arms around her and fell asleep with his face behind her head, unaware of a fully awake red-eyed jacklyn plotting their escape for the morning.


	14. Chapter 14

Nuclear Winter

Chapter 14

Jacklyn opened her eyes, the wakemaster alarm ringing loudly on the nightstand next her. She reached her arm over and slapped the yellow box on it's head, silencing it. Jacklyn's eyes adjusted to the dark room although it didn't take night vision to be able to read the clock. The numbers and arms of the clock glowed green against the darkness. _**7 am**_ she read. Jacklyn rolled onto her back and sighed heavily as she stared up at the concrete ceiling. She never thought she would miss the ordinary white flower themed drywall ceiling of her apartment. Jacklyn turned her head to see the blonde man laying next to her. Pushing his hair up a bit, she silently smiled as Lucas looked a bit like the Vault Boy mascot for Vault-tec.

Jacklyn's smile disappeared, remembering what she had to do this morning. Sliding lucas's arm off her stomach, jacklyn quietly slid herself off of the bed. Taking a moment to stretch and looking back down at the Lucas. "I'll be back for you." she silently said to the sleeping blonde man. She knew that he would stand by her and support her, given all that had happen, he has had many chances to abandon her but never did. Jacklyn knew she much hold up her end and help him however she could and right now that's finding a way out of this metal hole in the ground. Jacklyn turned towards the nightstand besides the bed, her police belt laying on it. She slid the belt between the belt loops on the hip area of her vault suit. The small radio and baton were attached but she was more focused on something else. Jacklyn undid the leather strap on the holster attached to her hip, her hand wrapping around the grip of the pistol and pulling it out of the leather bounds. Her thumb pressing the small rough button on the side of pistol, the clip inside popping out from the bottom of the grip just enough for her to grab. Jacklyn pulled the clip out, inspecting it. The clip was filled with brass jacketed bullets, the first bullet laying at the top in the clip, appearing almost eager to be shot after waiting for so long. Jacklyn slammed the clip into the bottom of the gun, cocking the slide back as the clink sound of the bullet being loaded into the chamber. Jacklyn walked towards the door, pressing the red button on the control panel that slid the heavy metal door upwards, and stepping through the door frame.

Jacklyn ventured down the hall, the faded colored floors and walls and the flickering lights above her head almost made her think of a horror film, however with her loaded gun and determination, she challenged anything that would charge at her from the darkness. Before the war, what she is experiencing would have quickly been labeled as insanity, although for now she was willing to believe it as survival. Jacklyn tried to remember the path she had taken when she first arrived. Down the hall she came across the large room she had remembered so long ago. The room with the dirt ceiling, a metal platform that stood on supports about twelve feet up off the ground. A small control panel built in against the railings along the edge of the platform with wires running from it and up the walls and down the hall. Towards the far right of the metal platform, a metal staircase led straight down from the platform to the ground. Jacklyn stepped up to the control panel, beyond the staircase was the area where the staff held the people arriving from the platform to the surface. In the very back end of the room she saw a large round area that was sealed off by a metal grate wall, the area where the gear shaped platform lifts back and forth from the surface to down here. She noticed something out of the corner of her eye, between the staircase and the control panel, there was a long piece of rope tied to the railing and just hanged halfway down between the ground and railing. Jacklyn dismissed the strange piece of rope and looked back up at the control panel. It was pretty small, she able to place both her hands on each end. The panel was a faded yellow metal with a large level and a red LED bulb above it, a small circle port in the right side of the panel that looked like it should be hooked up to something. A metal panel was under the level but it was sealed tight with screws. She tried pulling the level, but nothing seemed to happen and the light remained red. Jacklyn's head flared with pain, causing her to groan loudly. The flashback of the crowd of panicked people filled up the room. The sounds of their wails and screams echoed painfully in her head. Jacklyn fell forward, her hands catching onto the top of the control panel that kept her from hitting the ground. She remembered looking up from the crowd and at the control panel, the man there was controlling the metal platform to the surface from the panel, however she just remembered a strange device attached to his wrist that connected to the panel. Jacklyn's head started to calm down, letting her be able to stand up without hanging onto the panel. _**I must need one of those wrist devices in order to call the platform in**_ she thought to herself. Jacklyn doubt Lucas would know what she was talking about, even she couldn't describe it well, but she did have an idea on who might. Jacklyn stepped away from the control panel.

Jacklyn walked down the hall until she stopped at the second door down. Her left hand pressing the button on the door panel as her right hand tighten on the pistol grip. The door creaked upwards, the room was too dark to see in. Her left hand felt the wall until she found a switch, flipping it caused the lights to slowly fade on as to not blind anyone's eyes instantly. The room was lined wall to wall with vault-tec themed beds. All of them were dirty and partly faded except for one. Closest to the furthest wall away from the door was a brightly colored bed of the same theme, but jacklyn could tell that the bed was actually properly taken care of. It also had a sleeping man in it. Jacklyn walked over to it, joshua was snoring quietly on his side facing her, his body wrapped tightly with the blanket. Jacklyn shook his shoulder until the old man slowly opened his eyes. "Yes? What is it jacklyn?" He asked in a welcoming voice as he slowly stretched his arms above his head. "How do I get control of the panel that brings the platform in." Jacklyn demanded in a harsh and hurried voice. Joshua placed his hands on the bed, slowly pushing himself to sit up. "So, you've been snooping about have you?" Joshua asked, all the welcoming tone had left his voice. "I believe I'm the one asking the questions, now how do i-" "And what makes you think I'm gonna let you or him leave?" Joshua interrupted jacklyn, looking her in the eyes, his face starting to become one of anger. Jacklyn gave him a smug smirk, she had decided the moment she laid down in the bed last night that spending her whole life in this place and never knowing what truly lies above her head was much scarier than an weak old man who struggled to simply climb stairs. She grabbed the collar of the old man's vault suit and pulled him towards her face, slamming the pistol flat against his chest with the barrel pointing up underneath his jaw. "This 10mm pistol says so, and if that doesn't give you your kicks, I can solve your walking problem by making sure you can never walk again." Jacklyn challenged the old man, looking him straight in his eyes back, her face tensing up as her eyebrows came together. Joshua leaned in without jacklyn pulling him inwards. "You think out of all the work I've put into this, that I'll just let you two walk out?" Joshua whispered in jacklyn's face. "Yes." She answered as she moved the pistol down to his knee and pulled the trigger. The shot rang out through the vault, waking lucas in his bed. The hot brass shell popped out the bolt and rolled down the side of the bed as another bullet was loaded into the chamber. Joshua's face lit up in alarm, his eyebrows raising and eyes opening as widely as they could, his mouth opening to scream but jacklyn placed her hand over his mouth, forcing him back down on his back on the bed. Joshua's chest rapidly heaved inwards and outwards as he tried to swing his fists at jacklyn. She had more reach than he did and simply leaned back away from his fists but kept her hand firmly over his mouth. After a minute of trying to fight jacklyn, joshua's face seemed to relax a little, his hands reaching down to try to put pressure over the bullet wound that had stained both the leg of the suit and the bed with red. Jacklyn slowly lifted her hand off of his mouth. "If you don't tell me now, I'll put one in your other leg. If you refuse to tell me then, I'll unload every bullet in this gun into your body. If you manage to live after that, I'll happily beat you until you stop breathing and me and Lucas will figure out how to get out of this hell on our own. It may take a while but we will figure it out eventually or you can help live a little longer and tell us how to get out of here." Jacklyn said to the bleeding old man in the bed in a non-sympathetic voice to make sure he got the point that she'll only help him as far as he would help her. Joshua looked up to jacklyn, his face filled with confusion and hesitation.

The sound of the door sliding open scared both of them. "What's going on? I heard a shot." Lucas asked. Jacklyn turned towards the blonde man who had his own pistol drawn. Jacklyn's face turned white with fear of what his reaction might be when he sees what she did, however her body right now was covering joshua's wounded leg and the bloody part of the blanket. Jacklyn opened her mouth to answer but joshua beat her to it. "Lucas, if you would kindly, go down to the supply room. There should be a couple large duffle bags. Fill them with all the food and water and ammunition you think you two can carry, however there are two things you must absolutely get, those are radiation suits and pip-boys. You'll find them in the overseer office which is up the stairs in the supply room." Joshua said to lucas in the best calming voice he could manage. Lucas looked to jacklyn, who nodded her head. Lucas sighed, sliding his pistol back into his holster and hurrying away from the doorframe. Joshua looked towards jacklyn "I guess you go do whatever it is you feel like you want to do." Jacklyn grunted and turned away from the old man, stepping away from the bed and towards the door. "Don't worry about me, I'll catch up." Jacklyn could hear joshua say behind her from the bed in a sarcastic tone. _**He appeared to take being shot pretty well**_ jacklyn thought to herself as she stepped out of the door.

Jacklyn's head instantly started pounding again, looking down at the pistol and slammed it back in it's holster. Her hands grabbed her temples as she fell to a crouch against the wall. _**How could I have done such a thing? Why...surely there was another way of getting the answers from him.**_ Jacklyn's head hurt even more. _**What could I have done? He still knows something I don't...I-I know it was bad but it's so that me and Lucas could know the truth.**_ She tried to reason with herself. Her head started to calm down again. Jacklyn stood up with her back still pressing against the wall. She stumbled down the hall towards the room with the lift to the surface.

After standing at the control panel for a few minutes, jacklyn saw lucas coming down the hall, his arms stuffed with the green duffle bags and radiation suits. She walked over to him, taking one of the duffle bags off of him, the cans of food rattling against each other inside. "Here you go, much like the vault suits, these seemed to be one size fit most." Lucas said as he handed her one of the yellow rubber radiation suits. Jacklyn reached out to take the suit but stopped and grabbed his hand, turning his forearm over. "What is that?" She asked loudly, nodding to the large device on his left forearm that appeared to be the same from her flashback. "I'm not sure, it's some kind of computer thingy. I saw them in the overseer office in a glass case labeled ' _Pip-boy 4000_ ' they looked like they go over your forearm. Mine is kind of loose and keeps sliding up and down my arm." Lucas explained to her while handing her one too. "That's because you need one of these" A weak raspy voice said behind them. Jacklyn and Lucas turned around to hear the small clanking of metal against concrete. Joshua was limping towards them, using a metal fold-out chair as a walking crutch. His entire leg was red and somehow he appeared even more pale than usual. Lucas looked down at the leg and then at Jacklyn. "You shot him, didn't you." Lucas asked although it sounded more of an assumption. Jacklyn couldn't look at him. "Lucas, it was my fault, I forced her, I'm fine" Joshua answered him while finally reaching them with the metal chair. "You need medical help! I'll carry you to the infirmary, just point in the direct-" "I already bandaged it up, I'll treat it after I'm done here." Joshua interrupted Lucas as he held onto the metal chair with his left hand and reached out with his right arm, two leather forearm pads in his hand. Lucas and Jacklyn laid down their stuff on the floor and each took a leather pad. Jacklyn watched as Lucas turned his left arm over, undoing the metal latch that attached the pip-boy straps together on his arm and slid the leather arm pad between the vault suit and the harness of the pip-boy. The leather pad fit snugly on his forearm. His fingers latching the metal hook on the top strap onto the metal bit of the bottom strap. As a way of testing it out, lucas waved his arm up and down, the pip-boy staying secured to his forearm without moving one bit. Jacklyn looked down at her own pip-boy and followed everything that lucas did. The large device was a little bit heavy for it's size, weighing in about a pound. Jacklyn pressed the button on the right top side of the brown colored pip-boy. The screen lit up and displayed code up and down the screen as the device loaded it's operating system. A little green Vault-boy appeared after the codes fell to the bottom of the screen, giving his iconic wink and thumbs up. Under the vault-boy was a little bar with the words "enter name" above it. Jacklyn tapped the bar on the screen and a tiny keyboard appeared in the left corner of the screen with a large four arrow key pad with the center key being a circle to the right corner of the screen. The virtual keyboard had the letter Q highlighted. She pressed the down arrow on the arrow pad and the letter Q switched off, the letter A being highlighted underneath it. She quickly got a hang on how it worked, pressing the arrows until the letter J was highlighted. Jacklyn pressed the virtual circle key in the middle of the arrows and the letter J appeared in the bar. She did this multiple times until the name "Jacklyn" appeared in the bar. She moved the highlighted key until it lit the Enter key and jacklyn pressed the circle button again to confirm the name. The vault-boy then started walking off the screen to the left as Vault-girl walked in from the right on the screen until she reached the center of the screen and started walking in place, little green bars appeared over each limb of the virtual girl and the name Jacklyn underneath her. _**Guess it decided Jacklyn was a girl**_ _ **name**_ she thought to herself. Tabs along the top of the screen read "Stat, Inv, Data, Map, Radio" alongside with a dial on the top right corner of the pip-boy that had the list of the topics vertically next to it. Jacklyn used the dial to switch between the tabs on the screen, but each tab was empty. Right next to the screen was a little glass dial that read "Rads" in the center, within the dial and left of the word was a little gauge reading 100 at each point and a needle at the bottom of the gauge. Jacklyn was happy to take that as a sign of the vault being radiation free. To the bottom right corner of the pip-boy was another dial and gauge, but this one was different. The needle on the gauge could be controlled by the dial with the word "Radio" next to it. Speakers lined the area between the Radio dial and the pip-boy subjects dials. The left side of the screen, letters reading "Pip-Boy 4000" lined out long-wise. "They're a prototype pip-boy device, however not much was put into it before the war. You'll have to update it as you go along." Joshua told them.

Lucas's pip-boy flashed bright yellow, blinding him. "What the hell?" Lucas asked, turning his face away from the pip-boy and touching all over the pip-boy with his right hand trying to find the way of shutting the excessive light off. Jacklyn looked down at the pip-boy, pressing her finger on the screen and holding it, the screen flashed brightly green, becoming almost like a flashlight. She squinted, looking deeply into the screen, where she could see a small color wheel. Her finger pressed it and spun the virtual wheel, the color that the pip-boy flashed faded from green to purple. Jacklyn was quite pleased with the color and held her finger on the screen once again, turning off the flashlight of the pip-boy screen. Jacklyn noticed that the HUD had changed from green to bright purple. Lucas noticed what jacklyn had done and held his finger against the screen too, the light dying down from his pip-boy.

"Now that you're done playing with your new toys, put on the radiation suits, trust me, you're gonna need them." Joshua told them from sitting in the chair that he had brought with himself. "How do you know that?" Jacklyn asked. She knew this had something to do with what he hasn't told her yet. "You've been up there...haven't you?" Jacklyn asked in a accusing tone. "No, I have not." Joshua defended himself boldly. "You're a liar!" Jacklyn shouted angrily at him. "Yes! I've lied, but I am telling the truth about never being up there." Joshua shouted back although his voice quickly grew faint with the last few words. "What is it you've lied about?" Lucas asked curiously. Joshua looked down at the floor, hesitant to answer until he realized he was barely able to keep his eyes open. "I've lied about no one coming back from the surface." Joshua started, taking a moment to breath in before continuing. "A couple months after the chamber before yours was open and the people inside went up to the surface, only one man came back. I met him right here, the alarms normally go off every time the platform comes in or out, and he was absolutely traumatized. I remember it like yesterday. His vault suit was tattered and torn by scratches and and what I could have sworn was bites. His body was bleeding in multiple areas, or died with blood. His hair was falling out in clumps and eyes bloodshot. He told me how hell moved up from under us. That you couldn't see five feet in front of you because of the thick green fog. He went out with twenty four other people. Four of them got lost in the green fog. Ten of them died from radiation poisoning. Ten of them died from beasts he couldn't describe. He just said that they looked like us, moved like us only faster, and hunted them like no other animal. He told me about how he watched a woman be torn piece by piece by the beasts, and that the man next to him fired several shots at them, only to be tackled and torn apart by the same bleeding beasts. He was the last out of the group he went out with." Joshua told them, his voice flat the entire time. "What happened to him?" Jacklyn asked. Joshua looked towards the rope attached to the railing. "He killed himself." Jacklyn and Lucas followed his gaze to the rope and then back to him. "I have to know what's up there. There could be survivors. Maybe even a small civilization." Jacklyn said to both lucas and joshua. Lucas looked at both of them, not sure who to side with. Jacklyn reached down and picked up her duffle bag and radiation suit and headed down the stairs.

Lucas looked at Joshua, whose head was bobbing up and down trying to stay awake. "What are you still doing here?" Joshua asked, his voice quiet. Lucas looked at the dying old man. "Just...Make sure you're still here if we come back." Lucas said before heading down the stairs. Joshua slowly picked himself up out of the chair, stumbling slowly towards the control panel. Joshua reached into his pocket and pulled out the computer part of a pip-boy, pulling the connector and cord out of the top of the device and plugging it into a port on the control panel. The LED bulb above the level turned green and Joshua pulled down the level. A loud clanking noise rang through the room.

Jacklyn was already halfway in her radiation suit when lucas joined her. "I know I can't change your mind so I'm coming with you." he said as he set his things out and unfolded his radiation suit. Jacklyn zipped up the zipper along her stomach to her chest. "Ok." Jacklyn simply replied back. She flipped the head piece attached to the suit over her head, the gas mask covering her face. She could hear her breath brushing off the inside of the mask. She had taken off her pip-boy in order to stuff herself into the radiation suit. She started latching the computing device on when suddenly she was embraced by lucas. "Do you remember what I said to you when we first came here?" he asked in a whisper. "We have to keep moving forward." Jacklyn answered. Lucas stepped back and held out his hand " are you with me?" he asked. Jacklyn's breathing quicken. Her eyes started to tear up. Her hand shaking and rising slowly up to meet his. Lucas took hold of her hand. Tears started coming down jacklyn's cheeks as she hugged him. "I didn't know what to do." Jacklyn told lucas. He wrapped his arms around her. "It's alright, just...try not to shoot me alright?" he gave out a short laugh to try to cheer her up. He was pretty happy when she gave him a small smile. "No, I won't shoot you, not ever." she promised him. "Good enough for me." Lucas said back with a confident smile.

By the time lucas strapped himself inside his radiation suit, the large heavy metal platform arrived to the room, the blue rusty metal grate covering the way to the platform slowly lifted. Jacklyn and lucas looked over each other, they had strapped on their police belts to the radiation suits, their radios on their shoulders in check. Both of them had their police batons, 10mm pistols and two clips of ammo each. They had their own green duffle bags over their shoulders and glowing pip-boys on their arms. Jacklyn slid her hand into lucas's and stepped onto the platform. Lucas nodded and followed her, the metal grating slowly closing behind them. Lucas looked back at the control panel where joshua sat in his chair. Joshua looked up at lucas and nodded, pulling the level upwards. Lucas nodded back as the platform shifted back to life, slowly clanking upwards. Jacklyn stared upwards, not only because she couldn't face joshua after everything she put him through, but because she felt like after all she had put in motion, facing the direction she was going made the most sense to her.

The platform lifted out of joshua's view. _**I guess I've done everything I can do**_ Joshua thought to himself. He looked down at his untreated bleeding leg. He couldn't feel it anymore, although now that he thought about it, he couldn't feel anything anymore. He sighed, _**It's in their hands now**_ , joshua smiled and laid back in his chair and closed his eyes.


	15. Chapter 15

Nuclear Winter

Chapter 15

Lucas held his breath, his grip on jacklyn's hand tighten as the gear shaped platform continued to lift them to the surface. The tunnel started to become darker and darker. Lucas let go of jacklyn's hand and placed his index finger against the screen of the pip-boy on his left arm. A moment after holding his finger on the screen, the screen illuminated brightly, the tunnel filled with yellow light from his forearm. The broken gear symbol under their feet was now visible, the number 46 was worn away with the bottom and middle of the four was missing and so was the bottom curve of the six. Lucas noticed jacklyn looking at her forearm and doing the same, the purple light from her pip-boy joining the yellow light in the tunnel. "What should we look for?" Jacklyn asked out loud while looking upwards. Lucas considered multiple answers since he had no idea what to expect. "Let's look for a vantage point, get into a building and get high enough that we could maybe look over the city." Lucas answered. _Joshua talked about the surface being covered in fog, if we get high enough, we should be alright, it can't reach the clouds can it?_ Lucas thought to himself.

The platform crept up the tunnel, a loud beep noise coming from the couple's pip-boys. Lucas tried to look down at his pip-boy but the bright light was too much, causing him to turn off the flashlight. The yellow 'Map' tab was flashing. Lucas turned the dial on the corner of the device until the tab was selected. A large bar was flashing in the middle of the screen with the words "incoming signal" in it. Lucas tapped the screen with his finger, the bar disappeared and a large map of the streets of New York appeared on the screen. "Are you seeing this?" Jacklyn asked while staring at her own pip-boy. "Yeah." Lucas answered, swiping his finger to the left against the screen, the map moved to the left along with it. "We are right here." Jacklyn pointed to lucas's screen, a large area of the map was plain, "Sheep Meadow" was faintly seen on the map under the arrow marker of the pip-boy's location. Lucas placed his index and middle fingers on the screen, sliding them together caused the map to zoom out, showing off the island of Manhattan. He slid his fingers together more, the map zooming out even more to show most of Long island and Staten island. Lucas tried to zoom the map out even more but the borders of the screen glowed yellow, a hint that the map was at its limit. Lucas changed to zoom to just show the south half of central park and all the way to midtown.

The platform started to rumble and vibrate underneath their feet. Lucas and jacklyn looked up to see the metal cover of the tunnel. He heard jacklyn cock her 10mm pistol. When she noticed him looking at her, jacklyn simply replied "Just in case." Lucas pulled his pistol out of holster on his hip, gripping the slide of the pistol and pulling it back. He watched a bullet be loaded into the chamber from the top of the clip and let the slide snap forward to cover it. "Shoot only if we are being attacked." Lucas said to jacklyn. Jacklyn looked down at her pip-boy "We should probably head up 65th street transverse and see if we can't find shelter." Lucas nodded his head "Sounds good enough for me." _Assuming there is anything left_ Lucas anxiously thought to himself. His hand instinctively reached over and held jacklyn's, who held onto his in a firm grasp.

The platform started to noticeably slow to almost a stop, a loud scraping noise rang over their heads as the metal cover split open to the surface. Instantly thick green fog pumped into the tunnel from outside. Lucas held his breath, his upper body instinctively flinching away from the fog but he knew he couldn't escape it. The green fog swallowed up lucas and jacklyn, their pip-boy geiger counters ticking loudly as the needle shot all the way up the dial. Lucas's grip on Jacklyn's hand tighten as the fog smacked against the visor of his radiation suit. Lucas only then realized how heavy he was breathing when he heard it echoing against the inside of the suit.The temperature of the tunnel felt warm, but the moment the fog surrounded him, he could feel the rubber suit cool down significantly, lucas shuddered from the sudden coldness. All he could see was the green gas pressing against his visor.

Lucas felt the rattling of the platform slow to a stop. He held out his left hand and tried waving it outward, he couldn't feel the concrete walls of the tunnel. The moment he felt Jacklyn's hand slip out of his is the moment his heart was sent into a frenzy, beating so hard he thought it was gonna break out of his ribs. "Jacklyn? Jacklyn!" Lucas shouted, throwing his hands around trying to feel for her. His right hand hit against something and he heard jacklyn's voice say "Ouch! Stop that!" "Why did you let go?" "So I could do this." Lucas suddenly saw purple light flash in his face. "Turn on your pip-boy flashlight." Jacklyn told him. Lucas held his finger against the screen of the device, bright yellow light shone from it again. Lucas faced his arm downwards, he was able to see through the fog easier. Lucas slowly raised his arm, he was able to see across the platform and some surprisingly green grass surrounding the metal platform but his vision stopped ten feet in front of him as the fog overpowered the flashlight's distance. Lucas turned the pip-boy to face jacklyn, her entire yellow radiation suit was visible in the light. "Maybe don't aim that at me." Jacklyn calmly told him. "Sorry." Lucas apologized and turned his forearm to look at the device's map but got blinded by it again. _I really need to stop doing that_ Lucas thought to himself as he turned his head away. "I can't see the map with the flashlight on." Lucas told her. "Ok, then tell me where to go and I'll try to shine the light." Jacklyn responded. Lucas held his finger against the screen until the light from it faded back down to where he was able to see the screen. Lucas noticed something as he switched the tab to the map, the radiation dial to the right of the screen was lit up, the needle at the very top of the red meter. Lucas reached his hand up to tap on the dial when he realized his arms were shaking. While radiation may not get through the suit, the cold seemed to seep through it all the way to his bones. _We have to get out of this fog as quickly as possible._ He knew the rubber suits and gas masks would protect them from being irradiated but soon enough the gas mask canisters would fill up with fallout or something could easily happen to the suits to compromise them.

The arrow marker on the map faced towards a path cutting through the park. "The street is in front of us a ways." Lucas told jacklyn. "We can't lose each other." She said to him. Lucas swapped the pistol from his right hand to his left hand and held onto jacklyn's left hand. It felt weird holding it in his non-dominant hand but it would be better than being unarmed. Jacklyn turned her left arm outwards, the light from the pip-boy illuminating a couple feet in front of them. Together they started walking forward cautiously, their feet stepping down the concrete slope of the platform and onto the grass which crunched with each step. Lucas watched the arrow marker moving forward closer to the yellow path on the map as jacklyn led them. Every few dozen steps jacklyn would look back at lucas "And now?" she would ask "Keep moving forward." Lucas would answer. The arrow marker continued towards the path until it was right on top of it. Lucas looked down, his feet stepping from grass onto cracked pieces of concrete. Jacklyn waved her pip-boy around, shining the light around to see the path "Which way?" she asked. Lucas turned his pip-boy to the left, the arrow marker rotating to the left. He looked to the corner of the screen, a little compass pointed to the SE point. "Let's go to the left" Lucas answered. "Ok" jacklyn confirmed and started slowly stepping past lucas while still holding onto his hand.

They walked for a few minutes, lucas watching the arrow marker traveling up the path. He hardly noticed when jacklyn stopped them. "What is that?" Jacklyn pointed in front of them. Lucas looked up, the path went straight into a dark tunnel. Confused, lucas switched the flashlight on on his pip-boy and shined it in front of them too. The area between the overpass and the path was more visible. Lucas could just barely make out a moving object in the darkness. Slowly the object moved towards them from deep within the tunnel. The object started to take more of a human form within the darkness. "What do we do?" jacklyn asked while staring at the figure. The figure finally stepped out of the tunnel, lucas was able to tell the figure was a really skinny one and looked human except for it's movements. It stumbled towards them, it's arms swaying left to right with it's limping movement. It's head bobbed to the right and back up with each step. "It looks human, so close to the vault, it could be another vault dweller." Lucas said to jacklyn. Jacklyn stayed quiet and facing towards the figure. Lucas wasn't sure what to do at the situation, instead he just hoped for the best. "Hello!" He called out. The figure stopped in its tracks just barely out of the range of the light, the green fog keeping the figure shrouded, appearing almost like a shadow. The figure picked it's head up and let out a loud violent ear piercing screech. Jacklyn and lucas flinched back in horror. Jacklyn raised her pistol and fired it so quickly the shot made lucas flinch again. The figure's upper body jolted backwards, the sound of the bullet hitting flesh and a shot of blood hitting the concrete. The figure instantly started running at the couple. Lucas could only see a brown flannel shirt and torn jeans before he screamed "Run!". Lucas and jacklyn turned around and started sprinting down the concrete path. _If it took a bullet and charged at us, we do not want to fight it_ Lucas thought to himself as he ran. Only for a few brief moments Lucas looked down at his pip-boy, even the arrow marker was acting erratically as it raced down the path, the compass pointing NW. All he could see was thick green fog brushing against the gas mask, his lungs and throat felt like they were on fire, the coldness no longer being his top concern. Lucas started to feel like he was losing all his senses, all he could hear was his quick short breaths and the jolt of each time his feet hit the concrete. Even though his hand felt numb, Lucas never let his grip on jacklyn's hand lessen one bit.

It felt like minutes before they came to what seemed like a split in the path. "Straight!" Lucas screamed without realizing it, also not knowing if jacklyn even heard him. Lucas ran a couple more feet until his head felt dizzy and his legs sore, causing him to slow down from a run to a walk. Jacklyn slowed down with him, her arm brushing against his arm as a sign that she was with him. _I can't run anymore, we have to fight it_ Lucas thought to himself. Lucas turned back to the direction they were running from, his hand lowered to his hip, pulling the 10mm pistol from his hip. His arm shaking from the sprint and the cold fog didn't help but he raised it confidently anyway. Jacklyn looked over to lucas and saw his pistol pointing into the fog, doing the same and pressing her shoulder against his. Lucas held the pistol up with his right hand, his left hand under his right to support his aiming as he slowed his breathing. All sounds drowned out around him except for the heavy beating of his heart and the slow inhales from his nose brushing off the inside of the mask. The dark human figure appeared again in front of them, it's right arm swaying downwards but it's left arm reaching out towards them. Lucas closed his left eye, moving the iron sight over the chest of the figure, his finger squeezing the trigger. The shot rang out loud, his arms jolting from the recoil as the bullet shell shot out the side of the pistol. The figure flinched backwards, a string of blood shooting out from it's chest. Jacklyn unloaded a shot into the figure, causing it to take a step back. Lucas watched as the iron sight fall back onto the dark figure, the tip hovering on the it's head. Lucas squeezed the trigger again, the figure let out a dying screech as it's head flew backwards. It's knees buckled, dropping the figure down to the ground on it's chest and lying still with the soft _ting_ sound of the hot bullet shells hitting the ground.

Lucas looked over to jacklyn. She shrugged and lucas started stepping towards the figure, his pistol aimed at it. Jacklyn stepped to the side of the body and shined her pip-boy over it. Lucas saw a puddle of dark blood forming under the body, blood stains soaking into the back of the torn brown and yellow flannel shirt. Lucas noticed something disturbing about the body, the skin was severely wrinkled all over with some spots of the arms and sides of the face appeared to have been peeling and flaking off. He couldn't see the face of the body because of the way it fell but he was able to see the top and back of the figure's head, clumps of hair only remained in a few spots. Lucas assumed it was human although he couldn't tell if it was a man or woman and he wasn't willing to touch it to turn it over to see. Jacklyn gagged a bit as she noticed the same details as lucas. "We need to keep moving" Lucas said to jacklyn, sliding his pistol into his holster. "But where to?" she asked.

Lucas looked down at his pip-boy, the map showed they were standing at a intersection. Lucas looked around himself, aside from Jacklyn and the body, he could only see thick green fog. He couldn't even look up to the sky, the green fog hovering above them as well. "We need to get high up" Lucas said out loud. Jacklyn heavily sighed. "Maybe it could have been better to just stay at home that day and not suffer through all this and we could've died peacefully." Lucas could hear jacklyn sniff a bit from under her gas mask, her arm dropping down to her side as her head lowered a little. Lucas walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her. "We can't give up, we just have to take things one step at a time. Right now let's just focus on where to find shelter." "And where do we find that? Everything was probably knocked down to ground level with the blast. Assuming we can even find anything in this fucking fog!" Jacklyn angrily shouted back, her fists balling up. Lucas stepped back from jacklyn. He looked down at his pip-boy. The map offered nothing when it came to finding out about the buildings of the city, it only showed the roads and pathways of New York. _They must have done the mapping of the streets before all the bombs fell and didn't have time to input the buildings, these are prototypes after all._

A light bulb went off in lucas's head as he gasped and looked at jacklyn. "What if we could go home right now?" Lucas asked. Jacklyn looked even more frustrated even though all he could see through her mask was her eyebrows coming together over her eyes. "This is not a joke!" She grumbled at him. "No, no, no, not a joke. I think I remember the way back to my apartment and we can find it using the map. The apartment had thirty two floors, surely we could be above the fog at the top of the building." Lucas told jacklyn calmly but confidently despite the fact he wasn't even sure if the building was even standing. Jacklyn sighed and slammed her pistol back into his holster. "Fine, lead the way" Jacklyn said as she grabbed hold of lucas's hand, her pip-boy shining a way in front of them.

Lucas looked down at his map, ignoring the green fog around him. The path lit up was named "Central Park West". He closed his eyes, visioning the road he had always seen before the bombs dropped. The broken cracked concrete formed back together to make a perfect smooth intact road. The red brick and brown concrete buildings standing tall in front of him as a bright blue sky never seemed more wonderful above them. Lucas's throat hurt as his eyes stung with tears as he would give anything to go back to that time. Breathing in deeply, lucas tried to remind himself of how he always got home from work in those days that felt like a lifetime ago. His apartment complex was three blocks down from where he imagined they were standing now. Lucas opened his eyes, the clear blue sky was quickly replaced by green fog brushing against the outside of his gask mask. Lucas gripped jacklyn's hand tighter "Let's go." as he turned left and started walking down the street led by her pip-boy's purple light.

Lucas followed the screen, the arrow marker slowly going down the street, refusing to look up from it. Deep down he still couldn't accept the new world. The arrow passed one street block, two more left. Something appeared out the corner of his eye. Lucas stopped and nudged jacklyn. "Can you point your light over there?" he asked, point his finger out to his left. Jacklyn obliged, moving her arm towards his direction. A rusted long car with a round roof sat next to them. The tires were completely flat, the frame of the car was orange with rust but a few faded hints of dark blue lingered under the rust. All the windows except for the driver's was broken, exposing the inside of the car to the elements. Lucas cautiously approached the backseat window, switching the flashlight on on his pip-boy and shining it into the car. A pair of skeletons laid in the backseat. Lucas gagged and stepped away from the car. "What was in it?" Jacklyn asked. "Two skeletons, nothing else" Lucas answered quickly. "Well what about the trunk?" Jacklyn asked. Lucas inhaled and placed his hand on the rusted door handle. He pulled it back, the door creaking loudly as it opened outwards. Lucas looked at the front seats, nothing was in them. They tried to cover themselves from the blast in the backseat. _Great, now my heart hurts_ Lucas thought to himself as he bent over under the steering wheel. Shining the light underneath, lucas looked past the pedals and found the trunk latch and pulled it, a loud popping noise came from the back of the car and he stood back up. The trunk door was now standing straight up.

Lucas and jacklyn walked behind the car and shined their lights into the trunk space. Inside was a large black pump shotgun, two green boxes of shotgun shells with red tops labeled "Buckslayer 12 gauge shotgun shells" and some cans of cram. Lucas reached in and picked up a can of cram. The can's plastic wrapping looked faded, the can a little tarnish in some areas as opposed to the clean bright fresh looking cans of cram in his bag. _They're more than likely not good_ He thought to himself as he set the cans back into the trunk. Lucas picked up the shotgun. "It doesn't look broken" He said as he inspected the gun which surprisingly looked normal. It had a plastic pump and a wooden stock. Lucas held the shotgun in his left hand over his shoulder and reaching over to the boxes of shells. He used his thumb to flip the top over, the plastic container within the box was filled with organized bright red shotgun shells with shiny brass ends sticking out the top. Lucas pulled the pump back on the shotgun, the slide covering the chamber opened. Reaching down and picking up a shell, lucas slid it into the open chamber and pulled the pump forward, the sound of the shell being loaded inside of the as the slide covered the chamber.

A soft sound of stumbling behind him that lucas barely even noticed. He quickly turned and saw jacklyn standing behind him facing towards him. "What?" she asked, not noticing a dark figure stumbling up behind her. Lucas instantly stepped forward, shoving jacklyn to the side as his left hand found the pump and his right hand's index finger slid in front of the trigger. A massive shotgun blast echoed through the fog as the dark figure flew backwards and landed hard on it's back. The end of the barrel of the shotgun was smoking as lucas pumped the gun, the empty burnt shell flying out the side of the chamber. Lucas looked over to Jacklyn who was sitting on the ground looking back and forth between lucas and the body on the ground.

A loud screech came from the street next to them. Lucas quickly pulled jacklyn up off the ground as he saw what seemed like a pack of the same figures stumbling towards them and the car. "Shit!" Jacklyn cussed, pulling her pistol from her hip and about to aim when lucas put his arms over hers. "There's too many! Grab the shells and follow me!" Lucas shouted while desperately working the zipper to slide the shotgun into his bag. Jacklyn swooped up the ammo boxes and shoved them into her bag. Lucas looked up and saw the pack of figures closing in on them quickly. Lucas grabbed hold of jacklyn's hand and raced down the street with her. With his right hand holding onto jacklyn and the heavy glowing pip-boy on his left arm, lucas held the screen against his chin, the screen accepting the physical contact and switching the yellow flashlight off, allowing him to be able to see the map again. He didn't realize they had already pass the two blocks and were right next to the apartments. Lucas looked back, jacklyn's purple pip-boy flashlight was waving around crazily as she was running with him but he saw the pack of figures close behind them. "This way!" Lucas shouted, turning with jacklyn towards the building and using his shoulder to bump the sturdy glass doors open.

Instantly everything was different, the main floor room was visible with most of the fog being stopped by the door although the floor was covered in the green gas. The lights flickered above their heads, barely illuminating the room. The walls were no longer the comfortable red and white theme like how Lucas had remembered it. Now the white walls seemed dirty with various colored stains, the white paint peeling in some places revealing the warped wood underneath it. The chairs and couches in the room were covered in various stains and tears with dirty cotton puffing out from them. Lucas and jacklyn stopped where they were, jacklyn bending over and resting her hands on her knees. The elevator across the room from them flickered it's lights at the couple. "I don't think we should take it" Jacklyn spoke up from a gasp. "I agree." Lucas answered. Next to the elevator was a seperate door was a sign next to it reading "stairs". "I think it might be best we rest for a minute before we start climbing stairs" lucas said out loud. His whole body felt like it was on fire, his legs and arms wobbly from the running and shooting. _I need to work out more_ Lucas thought to himself before he heard a loud _thud_ behind him. Lucas and jacklyn stood up straight and turned around towards the entrance. The glass doors held back the green fog, however they couldn't see nothing outside of them but green.

Another loud _thud_ as a hand slap against the glass door. "Break's over, shells." Lucas said to jacklyn as he reached into his bag for the shotgun. She quickly reached into her bag for the ammo boxes. Lucas kept his eyes on the door, slowly raising the shotgun up pointing at the door. Another handprint joined the glass door. Lucas felt jacklyn nudge his arm with her hand. He looked down at her hand holding three shotgun shells. Lucas pushed the pump forward when he heard another thud. His fingers slid the shell into the chamber as he looked up at the door. Suddenly the handprints multiplied, a dozen hands slap against the glass door. "The stairs!" Lucas hollered as he pulled pump back and started walking backwards towards the door. He heard jacklyn pull her pistol out and started jogging towards the stairs. A loud creaking sound painfully rang through the room as the glassdoor desperately held back the figures.

Lucas slid the shells in through the feed on the bottom of the shotgun as he kept his eyes on the glass door, slowly moving backwards towards the door. He heard jacklyn open the stair's door right when the glass door shattered loudly, glass shards sliding across the floor as the green fog invaded the room. Horrible snarling sounds came from the fog as lucas watch bloodied mutilated faces that barely resemble human faces came out from the thick green gas. Lucas felt his jaw drop as the figures stumbled quickly after him, their jaws snapping at him as they snarled and growled. His arms slowly lowered down to his stomach, the shotgun starting to point towards the ground. The figures outpaced the fog, revealing their torn and blood stained clothing, their flesh underneath seemed just as mangled as their faces and discolored, almost appearing a faint green. Lucas felt lost between a horrible sense of horror and curiosity. What struck him the most was their eyes, jet black soulless orbs that seemed to pierce straight through him. They were quickly halfway across the room to him without lucas realizing it. He could have sworn he saw pieces of flesh hanging from their jaws.

A hand gripped lucas's shoulder, causing him to jump and look back. Jacklyn shook lucas violently. "We need to go! Now!" She shouted inches away from his face. Lucas looked back to the figures. The first one was ten feet away from him, stumbling as quickly as it could at him with it's arms reaching out at him. Lucas quickly raised the shotgun and pulled the trigger. The shot rang out as the figure flew backwards, black blood shooting out from it's chest, staining the faded red shirt it had on with black. The figure laid on the ground on it's back without getting up, it's limbs sprawled out. Lucas turned towards jacklyn and stepped through the door to the stairs. The area was pitched black except for the purple and and yellow lights from their pip-boys, steep but intact stairs lined the walls upwards. Jacklyn ran up the stairs, lucas following close behind, pumping the shotgun to load another shell into the chamber.

Loud screeches echoed down the stairs. Lucas looked up and saw another figure running down the stairs at them and saw jacklyn point her pistol up at it and fired into it twice, the figure falling and rolling down the stairs. Jacklyn jumped over the rolling corpse as lucas stepped towards the wall. The silent body kept rolling down the stairs and past him. Lucas's eyes followed it and when it passed him, he noticed the figures from the main room stumbling up the stairs close after them. Lucas pointed the shotgun down the stairs and fired it, the figure leading the pack fell down onto the stairs on it's stomach but the rest of the pack stumbled over it, determined to catch lucas. He turned back up the stairs and started climbing up them again. Lucas manage to catch a sign on the wall reading "Floor 19". "Keep going!" shouted lucas. "I know!" a angry woman's voice shouted back down at him. They kept racing up the stairs, lucas's legs felt ready to give up but the constant violent snarling behind him kept him running.

A few more shots rang out from a flight of stairs above him, another figure screaming as it went over the ledge and fell down the gap between the stairs, a loud _thud_ as it hit the bottom floor. "I'm alright!" Jacklyn shouted down at him. Lucas looked over his shoulder, the sign reading "Floor 29". Lucas kept running up the stairs until he saw a familiar yellow suit stopping in front of him. "What is it?" Lucas asked although it was more of a scream. Jacklyn leaned to her left and looked back at him, lucas saw the a massive gap between them and the rest of the stairs that was too big to jump across. Lucas looked around them for something to use. He stared at the metal handrails attached to the wall. "Fuck it, help me take this off." Lucas told jacklyn, setting the shotgun down at the stairs and gripping the handrail. Jacklyn grabbed the metal bar with him and pulled on it. The bar made a squeaking noise as it started coming loose on the wall. The snarling came closer but lucas wasn't looking back at them. Together they pulled again, the metal handrail breaking off of the wall. "Now bridge it across the gap." Lucas told her as they heaved the long metal bar upwards and forward. The end of the bar touched the stairs across the gap. They laid their end down and looked at the extremely narrow bar that would serve as their "bridge" to safety. "Get across!" Lucas told jacklyn as he picked up the shotgun off the ground. He heard the squeaking of the bar as jacklyn started walking on it but he focused on the figures coming at them.

Lucas pumped the shotgun and aimed it at the pack coming up the stairs and fired it. The shot took down two figures this time but four replaced them. Lucas pumped the shotgun again and pulled the trigger, a clicking sound came from the gun. Without thinking about it, lucas held the shotgun's hot barrel in his left hand, his right hand gripping the 10mm in his holster and drawing it. The ghouls made it the bottom of the flight of stairs that lucas was on. Lucas pointed his pistol into the pack and started pulling the trigger. The gunshots echoed throughout the area as the wall and stairs was splashed with black blood and corpses. Despite the shots, more and more figures seemed to overcome their fallen and steadily charge at lucas. Lucas kept on pulling the trigger until he heard clicking coming from the pistol too. Turning around towards the bar, lucas saw Jacklyn sitting on the stairs on the other side, her hands waving towards her as her head moved although he couldn't hear her, his ears ringing from firing the guns. Lucas lunged forward, his left foot touching the bar as his right foot swung forward, his arms throwing his guns onto the ledge where jacklyn was. His right foot made contact with the bar as he lunged forward with his left foot. When his left foot didn't feel anything was when his heart dropped. Lucas looked down, the metal bar was clanking down the gap between the stairs and onto the bottom floor. His throat went dry as he lifted his hands up in the air. He could barely feel jacklyn grabbing hold of his right hand as his body dangled in the air. His head stared down and saw some of the figures fall in after the metal bar. Lucas looked up to see a struggling jacklyn holding onto his arm with both of hers. Lucas reached up with his left hand and gripped the ledge of the stairs and slowly pulled himself up. As he pushed his chest up over the ledge, he heard a tearing sound. Swinging his legs over and resting on the stairs on his back, lucas looked down in horror as he saw the gash in his radiation suit in the stomach area.

Jacklyn gasped when she saw it too, quickly placing her hands over the hole in the suit. Lucas lifted his left arm, looking at the radiation meter on his pip-boy. The small needle was at the zero mark. Lucas sat up with a groan. "I'm fine Jacklyn, we are free from the radiation." Lucas explained to her, taking her hands in his. Jacklyn looked confused until he pointed at the radiation meter at her pip-boy. Lucas turned his head to his right side, the figures have given up the chase and slowly stumbled back down the stairs. Jacklyn stood up and helped pull Lucas up on his feet. He bent over and picked up the shotgun and pistol and started climbing the stairs again, jacklyn in front with her pistol as Lucas followed behind her reloading the guns.

Jacklyn stopped in front of him and pointed at the sign on the wall "floor 32". Lucas opened the door to the floor slowly, sliding his pistol through the gap and looking into the hall. Every light was off, Lucas having to use his pip-boy to illuminate the hall. Faded grey carpet lined the floor, peeling pale yellow wallpaper helped calm the couple down a little bit considering it had no blood stains. Lucas stepped forward through the doorway and into the hall, his left forearm turned to use the flashlight and to balance his right arm holding his pistol. Everything seemed quiet enough. Lucas stopped at the first door on the right, jacklyn following him up and stopping on the other side of the doorway. For a second, Lucas got a flashback of doing this sort of breach before the war. Lucas shook his head and grabbed hold of the doorknob, looking up at jacklyn who nodded her head. Lucas quickly thrown the door open and stepped aside from the doorway, jacklyn leaning into the doorway with her pistol aiming into the room. Lucas watched her slowly step into the room and followed her closely behind with his pistol.

Even through the room had no lights on, the room still felt lit up. Lucas closed the door and pressed the lock button on the doorknob, a soft click from it assured they would know if something was trying to break in. Jacklyn and Lucas shrugged their bags off their shoulders and placed them softly onto the ground. Lucas unzipped the radiation suit and stepped out of the legs of it. He instantly felt lighter and more free. One thing he was happy for when it came to the vault suits were that they were breathable, allowing cool air to come through them instead of blocking off air like the rubber suits did. Jacklyn tossed her radiation suit onto her pile. Lucas set the shotgun on top of the bags as jacklyn walked into the living room.

"Wow" Jacklyn said with awe, lucas perked his head up and walked over to her. Large window panes lined the wall next to a pair of couches. Lucas walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her cheek and resting his chin on her shoulder. "it is a pretty sight" he said. Outside the window were broken buildings, some with crumbled walls or roofs, some with large blasted holes in them, but the thing that made they look grand was the way nature had taken them back. Thick vines had crawled up the sides of the buildings, blue and purple flowers blooming from certain spots of the vines. Above the buildings, the dark black night covered everything except the bright white moon shining down over the remains of the city.

Jacklyn yawned and wrapped her arms around lucas's. "I don't know about you but I'm done for the day." she softly said to him. Lucas just nodded and walked her over to the bedroom. A decent enough looking bed looked welcoming from the room. The couple pulled their police straps off and set them on the nightstand. Jacklyn laid down on the bed, laying on her side facing the windows and lucas shuffled on the bed behind her in spooning position, wrapping his arms around her. "Thank you for saving me today." Lucas whispered to her. Jacklyn answered back with snoring. He looked over and found her face expressing she was sound asleep. Lucas laid his head down behind her's, resting his face in her hair and fell asleep.


	16. Chapter 16

Nuclear Winter

Chapter 16

"I've got spurs that jingle, jangle, jingle. As I go riding merrily along. And they sing, oh, ain't you glad you're single? And that song ain't so very far from wrong~" "Five more minutes." Lucas said half asleep, reaching over on the nightstand to find a alarm to smack.

"I've got spurs that jingle, jangle, jingle. As I go riding merrily along. And they sing, oh, ain't you glad you're single? And that song ain't so very far from wrong~" Lucas's eyes slowly open, his foot unconsciously kicking to the tune. The screen of his pip-boy was flashing on his wrist. His eyes adjusted from waking up and he looked down at the screen, a small bar flashing in the center of the screen with the words "In-coming signal" in them. Lucas tapped the screen and the bar disappeared. A radio wave danced up and down the right side of the screen as the radio frequency read "91.5". The sound of the chorus of the song with a man and woman singing to the rhythm of a choir and triangle bounced out of the speakers on the side of the pip-boy.

"I've got spurs that jingle, jangle, jingle. As I go riding merrily along. And they sing, oh, ain't you glad you're single? And that song ain't so very far from wrong. And that song ain't so very far from wrong~"

Jacklyn stirred around on her side of the bed, her pip-boy echoing the same song. She slowly woke up and sat up, resting her back against the wooden headboard, her hair sticking up in multiple places. "So I jingle, jangle, jingle all along!" The song ended with a blast of trumpets. The pip-boys went quiet once again but was quickly replaced by a deep toned man. "So that was Jingle, Jangle, Jingle. Not a bad song to start seven am to huh?" The man perk his voice up, trying to sound like a charismatic comedian but failed as he yawned loudly through the microphone. "Ok, coffee machine is brewing and now a word from our sponsors!" Lucas and jacklyn could hear the shuffling of papers through the speakers and the man clearing his throat.

"Worried about getting radiation poison from ground zero? Ghouls tearing up your garden again? Not so friendly neighbors asking for a generous donation of all your foods, weapons, money and able bodied companions while holding you at gunpoint? Well Gold Perch has the solution for you. A massive town built atop of several buildings that are out of the reach of radiation and ghouls. A Oasis in these dark times. Green gardens filled with various fruits and vegetables clean for eating. Clear drinking water that's purified right there on the spot. Armed and fully capable guards patrolling the walls will guarantee that you can sleep in bed carefree. Markets open for trade of all items, traders are welcome! You can find the Golden Perch over Times Square however the entrances are through the east and west entrances. Any number of people within a group is permitted as long as they are fully able bodies capable of hard work such as house building and repairs and farming. No animals are permitted beyond the gates. This had been-"

Before the man could finish his sentence, what sounded like a door being kicked open in the background over the speakers cut him off. A gun cocking could be heard along with a young much lighter male's voice screaming "Hands in the air! I'm taking all your shi-". A loud gunshot came through the speakers as the younger man could be heard screaming in pain and begging for mercy. "Should have just walked away." The radio man's voice could be heard before another gunshot went off, the young man's wails silencing from the speakers. A couple shuffling noises before the radio man's voice came through the speaker again. "Umm...Sorry about that folks, i'm sure i'm not the only one with pest problems. Now while i clean this up, this has been Mr.Green on the 91.5, The Bullet, now here's Butcher Pete!" A small quick static noise came through the speakers before a man's voice came through with jumpy jazz music behind. "Hey everyone, did the news get around, about a guy-" Lucas and jacklyn switched off their pip-boy radios.

"There's survivors" Lucas said heavily, his heart starting to race as a large smile broke across his face. "Other humans, there IS a chance that everything can work out!" Lucas stood up, his feet energetically pacing back and forth between the wall and the bed. "This is our chance to get our lives back" Lucas happily said out loud. " I know things have changed but we could make this work!" Lucas walked over to where jacklyn was sitting on the edge of the bed, blankly looking out the window. Outside was bright enough to see buildings beyond the ones just across the street even though the sun was nowhere to be found, being hidden away by a blanket of grey clouds that covered the sky. Lucas noticed that her expression was blank, nor happy nor sad. "What is wrong?" Lucas asked. "He murdered a guy over the air. I think the guy was trying to rob, this is gonna sound silly, Mr.Green and he shot him right there." Jacklyn calmly told lucas while staring out the window. Lucas sat down on the edge of the yellow bed next to jacklyn, his hand resting on top of hers. "We just have to make it over there as quickly as we can but If we come across people needing help, we'll help them if we can." Lucas tried to sound confident. Jacklyn turned towards him "You don't get it! If people are desperate enough to turn on each other, we have to be ready to fight anyone to keep what we have." Jacklyn said to lucas harshly, her eyes going over to the pistols on the nightstand.. "We are cops." Lucas sternly reminded her. "We are supposed to help people, not hold a gun at anyone who comes near us." Lucas told jacklyn, his tone matching her's. "We WERE cops, now we are survivors, we have to look out for US!" Jacklyn shouted at lucas. Lucas clasped a hand over jacklyn's mouth. "Keep it down, remember what's downstairs." Lucas said, his brow starting to forrow. **_Thanks to Mr.Green, i guess they're called 'Ghouls' now_** lucas thought to himself. Jacklyn threw lucas's hand off of her mouth. "It's because of them that I worry." Jacklyn quietly shot at lucas angrily. "We need all the help we can get. We may not be able to make it with just the two of us, we need to help people and i'm sure they'll help us back. It's not like there are any better alternatives." Lucas told her.

"Fuck this" jacklyn said as she stood up from the bed and walk around lucas to the bathroom. He heard a nob turn and water hit the bathroom floor. "Wait!" Lucas quickly said, jogging to the bathroom "Is the water clean?" Lucas asked. Jacklyn was leaning into the shower as water rained down from the shower head and onto the white marble shower floor. Jacklyn held her pip-boy to the water, the geiger counter wasn't clicking nor the dial bar going up.

"Clean enough for me" Jacklyn said, unlatching the pip-boy from her wrist and setting it on the sink. Lucas watched as Jacklyn pulled the zipper of her vault suit down from her neck to her belly button, the suit spreading wide open in half and then to the ground as jacklyn stepped out of it. Lucas's face turned red as he saw a black pair of bra and panties fall onto the ground with the suit. Jacklyn slowly stepped into the shower, the water running down her body as she looked back at him and smiled seductively. Lucas instantly started unlatching the pip-boy from his wrist. "Maybe we should share the hot water, you know, just in case there's not alot of it." Lucas said quickly as he unzipped his own vault suit. "I think the water pressure is getting lighter, better hurry up." Jacklyn told him as she rubbed her hands across her chest. Lucas tossed the vault suit to the ground and stepped into the shower. The sensation of the hot water shocked him for a moment before it became relaxing, the hot water seeming to warm him to the core which was the polar opposite of what the fog did to him. "Don't hog all of it now." Jacklyn joked, placing her hands on his chest. Lucas wrapped his arms around jacklyn, pulling her naked body against his as the water ran over them both. The sensation of feeling her soft skin rubbing against his was another thing entirely. Jacklyn giggled and leaned up and kissed him. Lucas closed his eyes as he slowly pressed her back against the wall and kissed her more. Hot water ran down his head causing his thick blonde hair to flatten down over his forehead. Jacklyn softly moaned as she slid her leg up the outside of lucas's. Lucas slid his arms down her wet back, his hands gripping her ass and pulling her up, holding her in his arms as they kissed more. Jacklyn nuzzled her cheek against his and whispered in lucas's ear "It certainly seemed like it's been a while, huh?" She asked in a low deep tone. "Let's fix that." Lucas whispered back in her ear.

An hour after they were done with the shower, lucas and jacklyn set their radiation suits in the shower, letting the rubber suits be cleaned off before pulling them back on. Jacklyn laid on the bed wrapped in a plush purple towel smiling brightly while messing with her pip-boy. Lucas had pulled a small table in front of a chair and had their guns on it. Lucas had a cleaning kit in his duffle bag that he was using to clean out the guns. Lucas was wiping down the barrel of the shotgun when jacklyn stepped over to him and laid her pip-boy down on the table next to him. Her finger pointed at the screen which was displaying the map of Manhattan. "If we travel south of Central Park West, through Columbus Circle and down 8th avenue to West 47th street and we can reach the west building that that guy was talking about." Jacklyn explained to lucas as her finger slid across the screen, the map showing the route that she proposed. "Sounds good to me." Lucas happily said back and leaned over and kissed her cheek. Jacklyn smiled even more and walked back to the bed. Lucas slid several shotgun shells into the shotgun and pumped the slide. The shotgun was in surprisingly good condition despite it being over a hundred years old. Lucas sat back and realized the same could be said for him and jacklyn. "Hey honey, should we tell our neighbors that we are over a hundred years old and knew what the world was like before the bombs?" Lucas jokingly asked. "And be kicked out on the suspicion that we've lost our minds, no thanks." Jacklyn said from the kitchen area of the room.

Lucas stood up and walked over to her. "What are you doing in here?" he asked. Jacklyn had ripped open a box of salisbury steak, a small styrofoam package slid out from the box with a thin clear plastic wrapping with frozen chunks of meat inside. Jacklyn ripped open the plastic wrapping easily as lucas stepped behind her, looking at the stove. The stove had some marks and stains on the top of the green steel. Lucas took the end of his shirt and easily wiped away the stains although the marks wouldn't go away. Several switches and dials lined the end of the stove. Lucas reached his hand over to the dial that was indicated to bottom left burner. He twisted the dial to medium, a small orange flame sparked from the burner. Lucas smiled as he stepped aside and let jacklyn place the steaks in a pan and set them above the live fire. The area around the stove felt much warmer than the rest of the room. Lucas felt his heart beating faster as he stood his back against the counter, his hands gripping the edges. As he looked over the room, he couldn't help but see his old room. What pained him the most was the fact that the place he had called "Home" for years was only a few floors below him. He felt a hand on his shoulder. "You know we can't stay right? If we do, we wouldn't leave." Jacklyn told him. Lucas was surprised at the force it took to move his face away from the room and to her face, as if the view had glued his neck stiff in that direction. Lucas looked into jacklyn's brown eyes. His hand cuffed her cheek as he leaned in and kissed her. **_No, She is my home now_** Lucas thought to himself as his lips parted from hers. Jacklyn opened her eyes and smiled. "Now go fix up that suit before we forget and you get sick" She joked as she softly pushed him away and turned back to the stove. Lucas smiled and walked to the bathroom.

He turned the nobs of the water off, the rubber suits shining brightly yellow against the white marble floor. Lucas waved his pip-boy over the suits, the geiger counter remained silent. Lucas sighed with relief and bent over and picked up one of the suits and held it up, a palm's width tear flapped open. Lucas laid it out flat against the floor and dragged his duffle bag towards him. He reached in and pulled out a large roll of grey duct tape. Lucas pulled the standing flap of the roll and stretched the length of the tape over the tear, sealing it shut. Lucas applied several more stripes onto it to help make sure it lasts. A small clatter next to him as lucas looked down to his left and saw a small green plate with a hot salisbury steak on it with a small silver fork. Both the heat and the smell was comforting and brought a smile to his face as he took the fork and cut himself a small chunk out of it and took a bite. Lucas felt much better and ate more of it.

An hour later everything was set up to go. Lucas stepped into his radiation suit and zipped it up to his neck, flipping the head piece over his head. His police straps were slid within the loops of the suit, his pistol, radio and baton at the ready. He looked over to jacklyn who was already in her radiation suit with her duffle bag over her shoulder. Lucas bent over and picked up his duffle bag and slid the strap to his shoulder and tossed the bag over his back. Jacklyn stepped towards the door and pulled her pistol and looked back at lucas. Lucas nodded and pulled his pistol and aimed it at the door. Jacklyn quickly threw the door open. Lucas saw nothing outside the door and started stepping towards it. He leaned outside the doorway with the pistol, the hallway was clear. He stepped into the hallway as jacklyn followed him and closed the door behind them. "How do we get down?" she asked. Lucas thought for a moment. There was no way they were taking the stairs again. "We can try the elevator." lucas said half-jokingly. "We didn't come this far just to have the elevator cords snap and we be crushed inside." Jacklyn said back not jokingly. "No, but maybe they could support just us." Lucas said back, sliding his pistol back in his holster. He stepped over to the silver elevator doors that were shut tight. "Help me with this." lucas gripped the edge of the elevator door and started pulling it back, the door creaking loudly and slowly inching its way open. Jacklyn wedged herself between the doors and started pushing on them. The door quickly slid back, leaving the large opening. Jacklyn looked down the elevator shaft, shining her pip-boy light down it. Several bungled cables descended down the shaft into darkness. Their pip-boy lights wouldn't seem to pierce through the darkness enough to see the actual elevator. Lucas took a deep breath in and lunged forward, jacklyn gasping loudly behind him as he fell into the elevator shaft. His hand reached out to grab the cables. He felt the rough cable sliding against his gloved palm and clasped his fingers tightly around them, jolting his body downward as he held onto the cables. A loud twang sound echoed through the shaft as the cables cut slack from Lucas hanging on them. He wrapped his legs around the cables and looked up. Jacklyn stared down into the elevator shaft. "For fuck's sake! Tell me your plan next time before you do it!" Jacklyn shouted down. "Sorry, I wasn't thinking, I just sorta did it!" Lucas shouted back laughing, happily surprised that it actually worked. Jacklyn shook her head looking at the cables. " Just jump!" Lucas shouted. "Don't tell me that!" Jacklyn shouted back. Lucas thought about what he could tell her to convince her to jump to the cables. "Did you climb the steep walls using only a rope dangling from the top?" Lucas asked. "Barely…" Jacklyn quietly answered. "Think of this like that. The rope will hold you, you just have to work your way down!" Lucas told her. He couldn't see her face but he could see her fists balling up and her legs shaking as she considered it. Lucas was about to speak out again when he saw her leap from the door frame, her legs kicking wildly in the air as she reached out for the cables. Jacklyn caught the cables, her body attaching itself to them just a couple feet above him. "Good job, now slowly work downwards." Lucas told her as he started climbing down.

As they climb down the cables, Lucas could have sworn he heard growling just outside of the shut elevator door frames. The cord shook in lucas's hands as he expected as both him and jacklyn tried their best to climb downwards as steady as possible but adrenaline kept them shaking on their descent. After several minutes of climbing, lucas looked down the shaft, a silver metal platform that looked like the top of a elevator was shone in the yellow light. "We're almost there." lucas told to jacklyn above him. She answered with a grunt. Lucas climbed down some more feet before feeling his feet touch the surface. Lucas stepped away from the cords as jacklyn climbed down to the elevator top to lucas. He looked next to his feet and found a small hatch leading into the elevator. Lucas bent over and grabbed the handle of the door when he heard jacklyn say "Wait.". Lucas looked up to her as she drew her pistol and pointed it at the hatch and nodded to him. Lucas nodded back and threw open the hatch, jacklyn stepping around him with her pistol pointed into the elevator. "Clear" she said before sitting down on the ledge and sliding herself into the elevator. Lucas slid his feet into the hole and slid in after her. The elevator's floor had grey carpet as the walls remained colorless. The panel consisting of a dozen buttons and a small rectangle screen that stayed pitch black. "Any idea what floor we're on?" Jacklyn asked, stretching her arms from the long climb. "One way to find out, but first take a break." Lucas told her, his arms feeling as if they were on fire as well.

After a five minute break, both of their arms felt a little better. "Ok, gonna need your help with this too." Lucas said as he gripped the edge of the elevator door. Jacklyn walked to the other side of him and stared pushing the same door he started pulling on. The door squeaked open as the familiar freezing green fog swallowed them up and filled the elevator door. Lucas gasped loudly as the rubber suit instantly significantly chilled. A hand placed itself on his shoulder as jacklyn said "I'm right behind you.". Lucas pulled his pistol from his belt and raised his left arm, the yellow light piercing through the green fog just enough for him to start walking forward. The growling from the elevator shaft seemed to have disappeared, which Lucas was grateful for. They walked across the room until lucas heard glass under his feet crack. He assumed they were at the entrance as lucas led jacklyn out of the hotel. The fog somehow seemed even colder than within the building, causing lucas's teeth to chatter as his body started to subtly shake. "Let's keep moving." Lucas said to jacklyn as he walked down the street with jacklyn's arm wrapped around his as he followed his map on his pip-boy.

Their pace quicken as they come down the street of their map to a large circle area simply marked "Columbus Circle". Lucas couldn't see much in front of him but he was able to see the much broken crossing lane lines under his feet. Jacklyn's hand shook his shoulder. "Are you sure we should go to the center? Wouldn't it be best if we follow the street?" She asked over from behind him. "Yes it would be but i need to see something." Lucas answered as he followed the crossing lane to the stone path to the center. Several feet within the stone path, a large stone column laid broken across the path. Lucas and jacklyn placed their hands on it and heaved themselves over it. Lucas shined his pip-boy light at the base of the statue. The center of the base of the statue had layers of fallout. Lucas brushed his hand across the stone, the dust easily falling off the stone, revealing the lettering underneath:

"Joy and Glory. Never uttered a more thrilling call. Than that which resounded. From the conquered ocean. Insight of the first american island. Land! Land!"

Lucas stepped back and tripped, falling backwards onto the ground on his butt. Lucas looked to his feet and saw a large chunk of stone. Lucas sat up and turned the stone around to face him. It was the head of Christopher Columbus. His jaw strong and eyes pointing off in the distance as if he was still looking over the city. Lucas stood up and picked up the head. "What are you doing?" Jacklyn asked. Lucas stepped over to the base of the statue, a corner of the base had been chipped off. "Hold this." Lucas said as he passed the stone head over to jacklyn. Jacklyn grabbed the head as lucas quickly turned around and jumped up, gripping the ledge of the base of the statue above the lettering. Lucas pulled himself up and turned back to jacklyn, who groaned as she lifted the stone head up towards him. Lucas grabbed Columbus's head and placed it next to him on top of what was still standing of the statue. "What the hell was that for lucas? I'm minutes away from freezing over here." Jacklyn grumbled at him. "Rebuilding. We need to set the world back to the way it was." Lucas told her as he slid off the statue's base and stood next to her. The couple looked upon Christopher Columbus looking over his circle with the same eyes as before the bombs. Jacklyn waved her arms around. "And we let the giant vacuum take care of the rest." She sarcastically said. "Hey, the little steps count." Lucas defended himself.

Lucas and jacklyn continued walking down the long stretch of street in front of them. The ten minutes had been quiet all around them. All they could see was the green fog in all directions and the cracked concrete road under their feet. Lucas watch the marker on his pip-boy map inch closer to the large area marked "Time Square" until he felt a tug on his shoulder from jacklyn's hand. The couple stopped in their tracks. Lucas leaned back to her "What is it?". Jacklyn pointed up past lucas's face and whispered "We need to be quiet.". Lucas followed her finger with his eyes. The brick building next to them had been dull but on a couple floors up a window shined orange through the fog, just visible from the street. Lucas's eyebrows raised on his face. "Do you think people are in there?" Lucas asked her. Jacklyn remained quiet as if she was thinking. Lucas turned around to face her. "We need to check it out, there could be someone who needs our help." Lucas said to her. "How do we know that? It could be a fire." Jacklyn answered back. "A fire that randomly started and is perfectly contained in just that one room?" Lucas sarcastically told her. Jacklyn frowned at him angrily. "Even if there ARE people in there, how do we not know it's a trap? We need to keep moving lucas." Jacklyn told him as she started walking past him and tugging on his arm. Lucas looked up at the window. **_If things go right at this "Golden Perch" we could come back for them He thought to himself and then looked at jacklyn. Right now, I have to take care of her._** Lucas started walking behind Jacklyn as she led them down the street.

Half an hour later, Jacklyn and Lucas leaned against the outside windows of a building. Lucas looked behind into the building but the green fog had infiltrated that too, giving him as much visibility inside as was outside. Lucas placed his hands on his knees. His legs were aching and seemed on fire although he was surprised by how far they made it. He looked over to jacklyn. "Are you alright?" he asked. Jacklyn was panting as much as he was. "Yup" She said as her head hung downwards. A loud grumble came from Lucas's stomach. He groaned as he knew there was no way he could take off the radiation suit while surrounded by the fog but he didn't want to risk going inside as he would spend as much time and energy just securing a spot as he would continuing walking.

"How close are we to this place?" Lucas asked. "Well, West 47th street is right next to us." Jacklyn answered. "We are almost there." Lucas told himself. "The sooner we get there, the quicker we can rest." Jacklyn said out loud. Lucas pushed himself off the window and turned to Jacklyn and held out his hand. "Shall I whisk you away to a place of enchantment?" Lucas asked with a smile. Jacklyn gave a short giggle and grabbed his hand. "You shall" she said. A loud thud and crack scared jacklyn off the glass and into lucas's arms. A ghoul had smashed its face into the glass, creating a large crack across the glass. The ghoul seemed to resembled a woman but her skin had significantly wrinkled and gave off a green color. Dark blood covered her mouth as a few long strands of hair covered her left eye, the other glowed yellow with red around the edges. Lucas held jacklyn to him with his left arm as his right arm quickly gripped the pistol on his hip and pointed it at the ghoul. Without hesitation, he pulled the trigger, a shot rang out as the glass shattered and fell onto the ground. The ghoul's face shot backwards as a long spray of blood came out of her forehead, her body falling backwards into the fog. Jacklyn's chest rose and fell quickly as her breaths came in loud quick timing. "I think it's time to go." She said. A loud screech sounded out from within the building. "Yup!" Lucas said as they started running down the street.

Cars lined both lanes of the street. Lucas ran in front of jacklyn while holding onto her hand as they raced between the cars. A quick glimpse lucas caught of a ghoul trapped in a car striking at the window trying to grab them. Lucas didn't realized one had bumped into them until both lucas and jacklyn were tumbling on the ground. Lucas looked up and saw a severely thin ghoul climbing on top of Jacklyn as she tried to push it off her. The two of them were too close to each other for lucas to risk shooting it off her. Lucas pushed himself up and sprinted over to them. He grabbed the ghoul by the arms and pulled it off of jacklyn. The ghoul shook violently in lucas's grasp, it throwing it's head side to side quickly. Lucas heard three shots ringing out as the ghoul slumped forward. Lucas tossed the ghoul's body to the side, three bullet holes pumping black blood in it's shirtless green torso. Jacklyn looked up to lucas with a smoking pistol in her hands. "Are you alright?" Lucas asked as he leaned over and offered his hand. "It didn't get me." Jacklyn answered and took his hand and lucas pulled her up. Even more loud screeching and growling came from down the street from where they came. Lucas and jacklyn started running down the street again.

Lucas looked down at his pip-boy, the map showing they were right next to the west building. Lucas wasn't sure why but the area around them seemed much darker than everywhere else. "In here!" Lucas shouted as they rounded the entrance of the building and held open the door as jacklyn rushed inside with her pistol pointed in front of her. Lucas heard the screeching and growling closing in quickly behind them as he entered the building behind her and closed the door behind him.

The room was filled with the green fog but something stood out. A red neon sign pierced through the fog that read "Stairs" with a arrow pointing left. The couple moved towards the sign, a tall metal door stood next to it but something was off. The door seemed to have large sheets of metal drilled into spots of the door, almost seeming like it was intentionally reinforced. Jacklyn looked to lucas who nodded his head. Jacklyn grabbed the door handle and pulled the door open. Lucas raised his pistol in front of him and stormed inside. Hardwood stairs lined the walls like a normal staircase but LED strips lined the railings, providing enough light to see each step. Lucas heard the door close and jacklyn say "on your six". Lucas took a breath and started climbing up the stairs.

As they passed the 25th floor of the building, the green smoke had stopped. Lucas looked down at his pip-boy's geiger counter, which was pointing at zero on it's gauge. Lucas and Jacklyn slid their pistols back into their holsters and unzipped their radiation suits down enough for them to flip the head part off. Lucas took a deep breath in as he removed the gas mask. His face got instantly felt cold compared to the hot inside of the gas mask and radiation suit mask. He looked back to jacklyn who had done the same. Lucas walked over to her. Jacklyn looked up at Lucas "What is it?" she asked. Lucas instantly placed his hand on her cheek and kissed her. Jacklyn placed her hands on his chest and softly pushed him away. "Not yet, not when we are this close." She said with a smile. Lucas smiled back and turned back to the stairs and started walking up them again.

As they climbed the stairs, the pair noticed a strange theme of the doors on each floor. Each door had been boarded up and had a red X painted across the front. Lucas and jacklyn looked at each other confused at what it could mean but without anything to pry the boards off, they left it alone and kept walking. Lucas stopped and threw out his hand to stop jacklyn. "What is it?" Jacklyn asked. Lucas placed a finger to his lips. He could have sworn he heard voices of children. Lucas's hand subtly fell back to the grip of his pistol. Jacklyn noticed this and did the same as they slowly crept up the stairs. As they climbed another floor of the build, jacklyn whispered "Are those...children laughing?". Lucas was relieved he hadn't gone mad but he was more scared now, flashes of the ghoulish creatures flashed back into his mind. **_Could there be children versions of those monsters?_**

Lucas and jacklyn turned the corner of the flight of stairs they've came up to be blinded by a bright white light. Lucas instinctively raised the back of his left hand against his eyes to shield from the light as his right hand grabbed and raised the pistol straight ahead. He could hear what sounded like rifles being raised and men shouting "Drop the gun!". Lucas still couldn't see anything but white and from the voices, he knew he and jacklyn was out-numbered and out-gunned. Lucas gently dropped his pistol onto the carpeted floor. He could hear the noise repeat next to himself. The strobe lights slowly dim enough for lucas and jacklyn to see the four armed guards. Each of them had makeshift armor, various patches of metal sewn into a leather vest, foot-ball helmets with knee and elbow pads. Two guards stood behind the strobe lights with M16's as two guards behind them held crafted crossbows made of wood with bits of metal. After a moment of his vision returning, lucas realized the guards were standing in front of a crude wall made of plywood with a large sheet of metal to serve as a door.

"What business are you here for?" The guard on lucas's left asked firmly as if he had done this before many times. "We heard about this place on the radio." Lucas said, slowly holding up his pip-boy on his arm. "Oh hey! You're just like them folks that came here a while back!" The guard on lucas's right said in a cheery manner. "Where are they?! Are they still here?" Lucas asked excitedly. "Not anymore, they left um...I wanna say two years ago? They were nice folk, helped us out some too." The guard casually said. "It doesn't matter, what are you here for?" The guard on the left said, cutting off the guard on the right. Lucas looked back at jacklyn, who nodded to the duffle bag on his back. "We are traders, here looking to exchange some goods for a couple days here rest and to get back on our feet." Lucas answered, moving the duffle back slowly to his chest and unzipping it, showing the boxes of ammunition and food along with the shotgun. "Say, you wouldn't happen to have any 5.56 in there would you?" The guard on the left asked. "No, just 12 gauge and 10" Lucas replied. "Damn." The left guard said in a disappointing voice. "What about sugar bombs?" The left guard said in a hopeful tone. Lucas reached into his bag, pushing aside the boxes of ammunition and pulling out a white box with the blue lettering on the front. He shook the box, the sound of the clumps of sugar rattling against each other inside the cardboard box was enough to bring a smile to the left guard's face. Lucas tossed him the box, which the guard caught in one hand while still holding onto his rifle with the other. The right guard sighed. "Well I suppose that'll do, you can pick up your pistols and head inside but stay on your best behavior, you will be watched." The guard said and turned towards the two guards behind him.

The two guards slung their crossbows behind their backs with the large straps attached to them and picked up the large sheet of metal and slowly carried it to the side. Behind where the metal once was were more stairs. Lucas and Jacklyn bent over and picked up their pistols and slid them back into their holsters. Lucas zipped up the duffle bag as he walked past the guards. "Welcome to the Golden Perch." The guard on the left said as they stepped through the makeshift wall.


	17. Chapter 17

Nuclear Winter

Chapter 17

"But first we need you to strip out of those suits." Lucas and Jacklyn were stopped before they could fully step into the new area by the guards behind them. "Radiation suits that haven't been cleaned can't be allowed through." The guard on the left said. "Yeah, ok, that's understandable." Lucas and Jacklyn agreed together. "The basket is on your left, we'll clean it up and have it brought back to you afterwards." The other guard told them. Lucas and Jacklyn slung their duffle bags down onto the floor. Lucas pulled the zipper all the way down and stepped out of his suit. The cold air hit his body, causing lucas to shiver some. A large garage bin stood against the wall. Lucas and Jacklyn lifted up the lid and tossed their suits in and picked their duffle bags back up.

As Lucas and Jacklyn stepped through the makeshift wall, they realized a significant difference in the interior of the hall in the building compared to the bottom twenty five floors. Warm amber LED light bulbs hung from the ceiling, connected to wires that were pinned along the ceiling, casting a soft yellow light in the hall. In the corners of where the wall meets the ceiling, christmas lights added bits of color along the edges of the ceilings and top of the walls.

The walls appeared to have been repainted, a clean coat of white paint shone brightly compared to the bottom of the building with its faded dirty wallpaper. Lucas smiled as he looked around at the walls, childish drawings had been made along the bottom half of the walls in crayons, squiggly flowers and trees, rainbows and smiling stick figure families. The floors were a flush vibrant tan.

Lucas's kicks something small that made him look down. A small wooden red toy car laid on its side by his foot. Lucas bent over and picked it up, the wood was crafted extremely well, the yellow wheels rotated on the rods that spun through the frame of the toy. Lucas looked towards Jacklyn while holding up the town and smiled. "I think there are kids here" He said happily. "Well, yes, and?" Jacklyn said to him as she nodded her head towards the drawings on the wall. "We aren't alone, we can start again here. Maybe we can teach them some valuable things from…from before." Lucas said, his mind racing to see if there was a chance the New York he remembered still lived or if they could at least bring it back. Lucas felt Jacklyn grab hold of his bicep. "We don't need to be kicked out by everyone thinking we're crazy for thinking we're over a century old." Jacklyn whispered to him, her voice sharp. "But we aren't the only ones, the others from the vault, they could be here, surely they've heard." Lucas said back, his hand holding the top of Jacklyn's hand. "Or they could be dead, hell, we almost died getting here!" Jacklyn's voice rose without her realizing it. "Ok, I understand, we'll keep this between us." Lucas told her. Jacklyn kissed his cheek before walking ahead of him up the stairs. Lucas followed.

As they walk up the next flight of stairs, they could hear noise coming from the hall to their right. As they step through the door out of the stairwell and into the hall, they found a small buzzing community. Very young children in clean neat clothing were seen running around their parents, drawing pictures on pieces of paper or throwing the same wooden cars Lucas had across the plush carpet. Parents in nice simple clothing were seen carrying laundry or playing with their kids. The air was filled with the smell of cooked and baked foods. Fresh bread and cookies, smoked meats and steamed veggies. Lucas's stomach growled hungrily. The interior of the hall was the same as the hall a floor down, except with different drawings on the walls and the air was a lot warmer.

As Lucas walked down the hall, he noticed that all the doors were opened, as if privacy meant nothing to the people here. Inside the rooms Lucas could see children playing with small wooden blocks. Lucas figured out the sources of heat. Within the rooms were lit stoves and medium sized heaters plugged into the wall. Lucas blushed a little as he saw a mother breastfeeding a baby under a blanket. Jacklyn pushed him along the hall past the door.

Once they reached the boarded empty elevator shaft at the end of the long hallway, they turned around back towards the stairs but stopped by a little girl. The small blonde girl looked mainly at the toy car in Lucas's hand, almost ignoring the two strangers as if they weren't even there. The girl had on a small woven blue dress that hung down to her knees with no sleeves, leaving the girl's arms bare as if the dressmaker ran out of material.

The girl said no words until Lucas held out the wooden toy to her. The girl gasped and stood back in shock. Lucas stepped back too, afraid he offended her somehow. The girl reached behind her back and ruffled around in the small almost hidden back pocket and produced a three dirty bottle caps and held them out to Lucas. "No thanks, this is a gift." Lucas said kindly. The little girl shook her head and then her hand, a rattle of the bottle caps from her hand. "Ok." Lucas said with a smile, opening his left hand for the caps as he extended his right hand with the toy. The girl turned her hand over, the bottle caps falling from her hand into his as she quickly snatched the wooden toy car from his other hand. As soon as the transaction was completed, the little girl turned and ran off, disappearing into one of the dozen rooms in the hall.

"Kids are the future, and they need to know how the world works if they're to go far." A manly voice said behind Lucas and Jacklyn. The couple turned around to see a middle aged man standing proudly in front of them. "Hello friends, the name is Nathan. It's always a pleasure to meet new comers." Nathan said with a large bright smile. Nathan had thick curly blonde hair, his pale white face seemed clean shaven. He had on a clean red and brown long-sleeved plaid shirt with blue jeans and work boots. Nathan held out his hand towards them.

"Hello, I'm Lucas and this is Jacklyn." Lucas said as he shook nathan's hand. He felt Jacklyn wrap her arm around Lucas's left arm. "We were let in pretty easily for such a precious community, why is that?" Jacklyn asked suspiciously. Lucas's eyes quickly darted to Jacklyn in alarm. In first contact with actual people outside of the vault, interrogation would not have been his initial approach. Nathan's face revealed nothing but the same expression of their meeting. "It's because we know where you've come from. The vault in the park. The vault suits kinda give it away I have to say." Lucas's and Jacklyn looked at each other in surprise. "Do you know where the others went? We need to find them!" Lucas asked excitedly. "Unfortunately I do not know where they went. Two young women dressed in the same vault suits came here two years back."

Nathan started walking towards the stairwell, Lucas following next to him as Jacklyn walked behind them. "That's not going to happen, the two young women left two years ago after spending a few days here." Nathan explained. "Why would they leave?" Jacklyn asked suspiciously. "They said they were separated from their group and that they needed to find them and regroup at a place they kept referencing as 'The Station'. Any idea on what or where that could be?" Nathan asked. "No clue." Lucas answered. Lucas glanced back towards jacklyn who stared sternly at him and nodded understandingly.

They pass by two little boys, one trading a cookie for a small red rubber ball. "I'm sure you noticed that we have a system here in the golden perch that have served us well, trade." Nathan said out loud almost proudly. "We teach the young ones here that everything has a price, and if we can have a structure that we can rely on to keep us from fighting and killing each other over the simplest of things and to instead work together towards a bigger goal, well, we might be able to make our lives mean something. Unlike those savages that live in that green mist." Nathan finished, his tone turning from proud to sour. "Savages?" Lucas asked as they reached the stairwell. Nathan turned and started walking up the flight of stairs. "Yes, unfortunately not everyone is as civilized as you see here. There are some survivors that are more...animalistic, focused so much on self-preservation that they have forgotten their own humanity." Nathan said coldly. "And we just can't allow that here, hence the security you encountered at the entrance." Lucas and Jacklyn followed Nathan up the stairs.

"Are there any other groups besides this one? Surely not all of them as animals" Lucas asked curiously. Nathan scoffed. "Alright, fine, if you're that curious, we have heard rumors of a clan of savages calling themselves 'The Harriers'. Of course this is just a rumor, no need to waste the supplies and time investigating this." Nathan said as they turn at the top of the stairs towards another flight of stairs. "But if there are other people out there, shouldn't we attempt to contact them? As you said, we should be working towards the bigger goal." Lucas protested. "We don't need them for the bigger picture!" Nathan turned and shouted angrily at Lucas. Jacklyn's hand instictly dropped to the handle of her pistol. Nathan's eyes narrowed on her. "Now now, we don't need to stoop to that level." "And what exactly is your idea of the bigger picture?" Lucas asked suspiciously. "It might be better if I show you." Nathan said as he turned and continued up the stairs. Lucas turned back towards Jacklyn, placing his hand on her shoulder. "Thanks." Lucas said with a wink. "Anytime." Jacklyn answered sarcastically before they headed up the stairs.

Once the three of them had reached the top level of the building, only a solid wooden door stood between them and the outside. "Perhaps you guys should put these on." Nathan said to the couple while holding out a pair of sunglasses. Lucas and jacklyn placed the sunglasses over their eyes as nathan grabbed the door handle and pushed open the door. Bright sunlight filled the stairwell as they stepped out the door. The rooftop had a gravel flooring, reflective solar panels lined out the roof, almost blinding lucas as he looked at them. Along the edges of the rooftop, large blue barrels and rain catches stood secured to the roof. As his eyes adjusted, he could see a clear blue sky above them.

Nathan led them across the rooftop, lucas looked out across the horizon. Sturdy wooden and metal bridges that seemed just big enough for three people standing shoulder to shoulder stretched out from the rooftop, connecting the roof to two other buildings across the large gap that was the roads down below. Bundles of thick black wires ran from the solar panels across the underside of the bridges to the other buildings, almost looking like the bridges had vines growing off of them. The building they were standing on seemed to be the shortest of the three buildings that the bridges held together. He could see people casually crossing between this building and the tallest building that the bridges on the right were connected to, leaning slightly upwards the closer to the other building they got.

Nathan started crossing one of the bridges to the tallest tower with no hesitation. Lucas and Jacklyn looked at each other. "You're going first." Jacklyn said in a serious tone. "Right. Ok." Lucas said, almost coughing on the words as he looked across the bridge. It didn't seem to move at all despite the man crossing it. Lucas stepped to the edge of the building in front of the bridge, placing his hand on the handrail. He looked down and noticed multiple areas where the bridge was secured to the building with bolts and cables. _Go figure, make it this far just to die from a bridge collapse._ Lucas thought to him.

Lucas breathed in and started walking across the bridge. The bottom of the bridge had multiple boards stretching both across and along the bridge's length, guaranteeing not a foot, much less a person, could fall through a gap in the bridge. Attached to the handrails and bottom of the bridge was a rubber mesh that help keep anything on the bridge from falling between. After a few steps, Lucas looked behind and smiled at Jacklyn, who didn't notice as she looked down over the handrails, her face looking pale. Curiously, lucas looked over the edge of the bridge, the deep green fog flowed around the buildings below. From far up, the green fog almost looked like the ocean, waving back and forth against the buildings. Lucas closed his eyes and shook his head. He did not miss being in it at all. He opened his eyes facing forward. "You coming?" Lucas shouted out loud. "Yeah! Ok!" Jacklyn shouted back.

Lucas noticed a little resistance as he was walking across the bridge. The bridge started leaning upwards, lucas having to put more force on each step as he hiked up the bridge. Before a minute though, he reached the open side of the building. The bridge tracked into the building, a smashed open wall allowed him and Jacklyn to step inside of the building. Nathan stood there with them in what was the guest room of the building. "And this is the bigger picture." Nathan said as he opened the door.

The building had no lighting system aside from the sun above. The floor they were on had all the walls cleared, ridding rooms and making the whole floor look like one open area. The center of the floor had been torn open, revealing the floor below their's. All along the floor were various sizes of planters and gardens holding many plants. Maize, wheat, mutfruit, banana yucca and gourd seeds filled the planters along the floor. Gardeners were seen walking around, tending to the plants and gathering their produce. Nathan safely led them through the planters to the edge of the center of the floor. Lucas looked down past the edge, many floors below them had been opened up, allowing sunlight into the area to feed the many plants that belonged to each floor.

Lucas looked upwards, many floors above them had been opened up in the center, even more gardens bloomed in the sun that shined brightly in the center of the open gap of the building. Lucas couldn't help but say "Woah" as he admired the scene. "You have no idea how long and how hard we have worked to get to this point." Nathan said, admiring the scene with the couple. "How?" Lucas asked softly, most of his attention held by the multiple layered garden oasis. "That is a story for another time." Nathan told lucas. "I have many things I must tend to today and I'm sure you two could use a rest after making it here." Nathan said as he turned back towards the entrance. Lucas and jacklyn followed him back across the bridge. "What's the apartment over there used for?" Jacklyn asked as she pointed at the third tower that was a few floors shorter than the garden. "Well, to sum it up, that's our workshop. We have a tower for our basic needs. The tower you came in was our home tower, we use it to house our families and raise the young. We use one of the floors as our school actually, we teach children about the ways of this world, the importance of trade and how they all must provide a role to help further our community." Nathan explained.

The three of them held tightly onto the handrails as they descended the slope of the bridge. "The tower we just left was our garden tower, the top levels we grow our vegetables as you could clearly see. We knocked out most of the ceiling and flooring to allow sun in. Had we had more time, I would have shown you two the brahmin pins, the kids treat it as a petting zoo, ha." Nathan said with a laugh as lucas and jacklyn looked at each other. "You have brahmin here? How?" They asked. "Well crazy story, a traveler hooked on jet showed up one day with two calves. Said he was on the run from demons and that he needed a place to hide. We asked him what he had to trade from staying here and just popped two calves from a large sack. We kept them and raised them, bred them and over time we managed to grow a small herd out of them." Nathan said. "How did you learn to maintain them to become a herd?" Lucas asked curiously as they walked down the more leveled out part of the bridge.

"Well you see, we have a system where we-" Nathan started explaining right as a man dressed in padded simple clothing approach them on the bridge. "Sir, we need you over in the labs." Nathan looked back at Lucas and Jacklyn. "Well, duty calls. You two can pick a room in the home tower, I believe we have a few rooms available but you might want to check with our secretary on the forty-first floor. Now if you pardon me, I have some business to take care of." Nathan held out his hand to Lucas, who shook his hand. "Lucas, well met. I hope you like it here at the Golden Perch." Nathan repeated the politeness with Jacklyn and walked past them back up to garden tower.

Lucas and Jacklyn held hands as they walked down the bridge to the home tower, the guard opening the door for them as they cross the roof and into the stairwell. Together they descended the stairs till they found the door with the numbers forty one next to it. Lucas open the door for Jacklyn and followed in behind her. The first door on the right had a small plaque with metal lettering reading "Secretary" Lucas knocked on the door and was replied with a woman's voice "Come in." Lucas twisted the doorknob and walked in.


End file.
